Sing for Absolution
by ShadowBlazer
Summary: Lucina starts to wonder about the town pariah, Severa, who offers her a ride on a burning lonely road in the summer, and why a girl she used to consider a friend has grown so distant. Severa is uneasy that Shepherds High top student has taken a sudden interest in her and the attention it attracts, especially Severa has a connection to the death of Lucina's cousin. [Small Town AU]
1. Prologue

Everyone in town know what the kids say about the priest's daughter.

Severa peers at Lucina over the top of her sunglasses as she drives slowly beside her. "Do you know who my father is?"

Lucina hums, wiping sweat away from her eyes while walking under the blistering noonday sun. Her trek along the town's main road from the fields to her home was much hotter than she anticipated and the road is conspicuously bare of trees, as if the town's founders had feared an attack by bandits in the woods. "The priest, correct?"

In a town as small as Ylisse, everyone knew who each other was from the diplomatic guidance of Mayor Emmeryn to the bar owned by the easy-going Gaius to the beautiful priest who ran the church. And his infamous daughter.

The girl in question glances sidelong at Lucina, driving her convertible so deliberately that they can hear the crunch of gravel beneath the tires. "And you've heard of my reputation?"

Lucina gives her a strange look. Every teenager is familiar with the furious girl who skips class, makes money in drag races, and wears clothes that show off enough skin to make the boys gape. Not that it takes much convincing. Between her abrasive attitude and disdain for others, it's not a surprise that most kids stay away from Severa Faulkner like she could cut into their flesh with her words. Which some think she can. It's a contrast to her mother, who is one of the most beloved teachers at Shepherd High, coaching every girls sport team and inspiring students to take the breadth of her classes from home ec to literature. Her daughter is never seen in them though.

It hurts Lucina slightly that Severa chooses not to remember that they used to be friends.

She tilts her head to look at the girl in the car, dressed in a thin, low-cut tank top and possessing a layer of something odd behind her scowl. She almost looks nervous. "I don't think it's possible to go to school and not hear about you," she says, neutrally.

Severa snorts and slams back into her seat. She doesn't look at her. "And you're still talking to me, because...?"

"You started it first." Lucina grabs the top of her soccer jersey and wipes her brow with it. She's slightly disgusted to find the material already moist. "And you pulled up alongside me," she points out.

"Because what kind of idiot walks along the main road under the summer sun?" Severa glares at her, pretty features twisted into a semi-permanent scowl. "It's over 30 degrees."

Lucina shrugs, although she can feel the heat rush to her face. That might be the sun stroke though. "My bike broke down back a kilometre or so. Also, the roof to your car isn't up either."

In fact, Severa's skin along her arms and shoulders are already turning pink from the exposure to the sun. She would burn shortly if she continue on like that for even another ten minutes. Why is her roof down? Also, how does a priest's daughter get a convertible out here? Severa doesn't seem to want to answer.

"Why are you even out here in the first place?" The driving girl grits out.

"I like going out to the fields and the woods on my own. It helps me think. Why are you here?"

Another question that Severa doesn't answer.

Lucina wipes at her face again. She opens her school bag and pulls out her water bottle, the last of water sloshing around with a lazy gurgle. When she swallows the tepid water, there's a distinct sense of dissatisfaction. "Would you happen to have water?"

Severa snorts, looking away. "No." She goes silent as the car and Lucina slowly edges down the rough road. "You're going to die of dehydration if you keep going like this. Town's another three kilometres."

Lucina waves off her assertion. She probably wouldn't die, per say. "How kind of you to care."

Severa flinches as if struck. She glances away, sweat matting strands of hair to her forehead, cheeks, and neck. Lucina could see the perspiration beading down the exposed skin and into her cleavage, which suddenly made her uncomfortable.

"I know who you are. And you know me." Lucina says, mostly to distract herself.

"Of course, I do. Everyone knows the niece of the mayor and the daughter of the principle." Severa stares ahead, gripping her wheel tightly. Her knuckles have gone white. "Most perfect student to ever come along in Ylisse's history. A's in everything and in every single school club. Star of the soccer team. Is there anything you can't do?"

Lucina smiles, grimly. "I can't fix a bike."

"Or think to call for help, apparently."

Lucina scratches at her cheek. "Actually, I broke my phone last week." While cutting fruit. That's not a story she plans to share with anyone. "I'll be okay. I wouldn't want to ask anyone to burden themselves trying to help me correct my mistakes."

She swears she hears Severa mutter "Oh my gods, you cannot be real" before driving a little ahead of her and stopping the car altogether. She opens a passenger-side door. "Get in."

Lucina peers at the door and the girl curiously. "Why?" From the looks of the other girl, Lucina wouldn't get yet another answer.

Severa's jaw is tense, although she doesn't make eye contact. Her whole body is rigid, on the edge of fleeting like a small animal watching for an attack. Her shoulders hunch together. Her eyes look so sad.

Lucina remembers what the kids at school say about the priest's daughter.

She looks shocked when Lucina sits down beside her. "You're actually accepting a ride? From me?"

Lucina peers at her from the corner of her eye. "You did offer. Did you mean it?"

Severa huffs. "Of course." She presses a button that makes the roof behind them lift up and cover them, although Lucina is still puzzled about why she had the roof down in the first place. She veers into the centre of the road before accelerating, the faded fence posts alongside the roads blurring into a irregular pattern of brown. Her hands are steady as she handles the wheel. There's a tremble in her jaw that Lucina finds fascinating, like the slope of her nose and the curve of her mouth. The other girl seems to find her equally as engaging if the frequent glances out the corner of her eye mean anything. But perhaps they don't.

They drive the rest of the way in silence, and Lucina lets Severa take her home.


	2. Intro

**Author's Note:** May contain some graphic violence. Forgot the disclaimer last time. I own nothing from Fire Emblem.

* * *

Severa has been to the church in Valm before.

There's something about the glass windows in the building that filters the sunlight into a dull light that turns everything a shade of grey. The beams vault high above, like the rotted, creaking bones of some ancient carcass while at the front, a pulpit with peeling black paint stands alone while the pews sit before it, made of darkened wood and carved with extensive skill. If not for the ashy cast of the light through the windows, the inside of the church would almost look bearable instead of looking like some place long forgotten and abandoned. The outside was a moden white building with wooden panelling and solid, tall doors that require two men to open. Her father decided to take her mother and her there to visit an old friend of his—the deacon who runs the church.

They visited on a Saturday, as they knew it would not be busy then. Their car blows out a tire on the way there, and it's only through the miracle of Naga that they didn't spin out into a nearby tree with the speed they were going at. Or so her father says.

A pair of men stop to help them. One had blue eyes and an easy smile while the other had short, close-cropped hair and grey eyes with a tight expression that only relaxed when he looked at the other man. The friendly one introduces himself to her father, shakes both his and her mother's hands, and offers the spare tire in their trunk. He laughs at the story of the tire blowing out and ruffles her hair when he spots her. She hates that and swats at his hand when he tries to do it again.

His eyes soften when she does that. He mentions how he's always wanted children.

When her father gently asks why he doesn't have any, he glances at the man beside him and merely replies that life had other plans for him.

The serious man gives her a nod in acknowledgement before shuffling off to the trunk to retrieve the spare.

Her parents thank the two men profusely for replacing their tire, and the men invite them to a large celebration happening on the main streets of Valm this evening for people of their persuasion. Her mother's taken back while there's a faint smile on her father's face. Severa's about to ask what's so strange when the laughing man with the blue eyes ruffles her hair again while the serious one drags him away. She huffs and states that she doesn't like him, though his friend seems all right. Properly dignified and serious, like a real man should be.

The stranger grins and cheekily remarks that he hopes to see her there. He and the other man take off in their car, and her father has his hands clasps together as if in prayer for them. When her curious mother prompts him on what he was praying for, her father answers that he doesn't know. He just felt like he needed to ask Naga to watch over them.

They get in their car and make it to Valm without anymore incidents.  
_

Deacon Matthews was a portly man with greying, close-cropped hair and glasses. He smiles often and at Severa with a pain in his eyes whenever he looks at her that makes the young girl wonder.

The deacon invites her family to the back room where the walls are stacked with shelves filled with books and two plush armchairs sitting in front of mahogany desk. Her mother and father sit down with her mother trying to lift Severa into her lap, but the girl squirms.

Severa hops off her mother's lap. "I don't want to sit in here and listen." She points outside towards the front of the church. "I want to go out there."

Her father frowns and is about to reply when the deacon chuckles. "Father Gregory is out there. He would be able to take care of her if she wants to wait outside."

"Very well. Severa, you can go but stay inside the church until we come get you," her father says while her mother kisses her on the top of the head and gives her a brief hug.

Severa wipes the kiss off from her hair and leaves the boring meeting to her parents and the deacon. She exits from the side of the pulpit and her eyes catch on the leather-bound book sitting on its dark surface, looking much used, save for the polish of gold worked into its cover.

"Hello there. Are you lost?" A solemn-looking priest with grey eyes and reddish-blond hair surfaces from her side, nearly startling the young girl out of her skin. He doesn't look unkind at least. "Are you looking for your mommy and daddy?" His accent is thick, though Severa doesn't know where it comes from.

Severa shakes her head and skips away from him to push herself onto a pew. "They're talking with the deacon here, and I got bored so I came out here." She begins kicking her feet while sitting on the wooden seat.

The man smiles. "So, you're Father Libra's and Miss Faulkner's."

"And you're Father Gregory," Severa guesses.

The priest looks surprised. "Father Matthews must have told you about me." He smiles as he sits down on the bench, giving her some distance. "Did he tell you I came here recently by myself?"

Severa frowns. "No mommy and daddy?"

Gregory laughs, "No. They're no longer with us. I do have a younger brother, though he's a bit of hothead and his English isn't as good as mine. I'm hoping he'll settle down with a fine lady to calm his temper."

Severa thinks of the helpful men her family met earlier and how much them looking at each other reminds her of the way her mother and father do. "What about a man? Can two men marry?"

He pauses, thinking. His words are slow in coming. "I believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman in the eyes of Naga. The answer is the same for two women."

"Oh." Severa doesn't understand why it feels like her stomach is sinking down towards her shoes. She watches the plastic tips as they swing up and down. "How come?"

The priest hesitates. "Naga's teachings have only mentioned a union between men and women. Though they inspire us to have love for everyone, they also teach us to hate sin. And any marriage that is not between a man and woman is a sin against Naga's intentions."

Severa opens her mouth to respond, trying to remember her father's lectures. "But doesn't Naga teach us to love everyone? Why would she tell us to love some but not others that she made?"

The man looks uncomfortable. "I'm afraid that question may be too much for our talk. Why don't you ask your father, little one? He knows more about Naga's teachings than even I do."

Severa makes a defiant sound in her throat and turns away. Father Gregory shakes his head and looks up at the entrance to the back room where her parents are emerging. "Looks like they're done." He pats her back and gently shepherds her towards them. "Your girl is sharp of mind. And I suspect sharp of tongue too." He claps her father on his shoulder. "You'll have one heck of a conversation on the way back."

Her parents look between Father Gregory and her curiously, but the deacon ushers them out with a hearty laugh before either can comment.

"My apologies for the hasty goodbye, friends, but our church must make preparations for the celebrations happening tonight in downtown Valm. You should drop by when you get the chance." He bids them farewell, standing at the opening of the two great doors. "Oh, and Libra. Remember what I said. You can only bless her with as much of Naga's guidance as she's willing to follow. Some cannot be helped until they learn to help themselves for their own good." A sad expression comes on his face as he waves to them, becoming a small, lonely figure at the top of dirty white stairs.

Severa peers at her parents' faces as they speak quietly under their breaths.

Her father taps a finger to his forehead in thought. "I don't fully agree with him."

"Nor do I, but you do have to admit that she is making things hard for herself, arriving so suddenly and with a young child." Her mother shakes her head. "I'll bring Severa over next weekend to see if they can be friends. Her little girl looks like she could be scared of her own shadow."

Severa stops in the middle of the street and thrusts her hands on her hips, mimicking her mother's pose from a few nights ago when Libra kept Severa up too late from reading bedtime stories. "I can hear you!"

Libra smiles at her. "Yes, it seems like your mother forgot to ask your permission before making her own plans. Do you want to make a new friend?"

The young girl sniffs. "I guess, but I say when we go."

Her father looks amused while her mother sighs. She says, "We can talk about that later. For now..." She and Severa's father grab the surprised girl by the hands and begin walking forward towards some streets filled with bright colours and ornate architecture. "...let's go have some fun."

Her father and mother take her down, to her surprise, to the celebration the two strangers spoke of earlier in the day. When asked why, her father smiles and says that Naga encourages love in all forms, and he wants her to see that for herself.

Severa is confused. Especially when Father Gregory told her otherwise. She holds her parents' hands as they make their way towards the suggested place, and the young girl frowns, feeling that something isn't right. The streets pass before her eyes, and her father reassures her than the main place for the celebrations is few moments away.

"Daddy," Severa's grip tightens on her father's hand, "can two women marry? Or two men?"

Libra looks at her in surprise. Before he can answer, screams ring out around the corner from them, and her mother and father both look at each other. Severa hears the yells again accompanied by jeers, and she breaks free of her father's hold and darts ahead to their terrified shouts.

Figures dressed in black robes congregate in the middle of the street, their hoods heavy on their faces. There's a strange white patch on their back that looks like three pairs of eyes marked with dark lines that makes the young girl feel like she's being watched. Of course, that doesn't compare to the shouting and screaming as people flee from them while the figures sneer and haul them back, the huddle of terrified young faces in the centre of the mob, or the streak of blood across grey cobblestones as two men are pummelled with thick batons, the teeth of one man scattering across the ground as a blow strikes him across the face.

A tall man in the dark robe plants his foot on the broken man's back. His voice comes out flat, low, and loud. "Disgusting." He raises his baton, and the other figures follows his action.

Severa watches as the mob nearly beats them to death. They look terribly familiar.

Her father's grip on her shoulders tightens before he pushes her to her mother. "Cordelia, watch her. Call the police."

Her mother glances at him before her eyes dart to the crowd. "Watch yourself too." She flips out her phone and begins to call.

He smiles grimly before pushing through to the centre of the mob. Severa feels fear spike down to her stomach. She tries to chase after him, but her mother holds her back. "They'll hurt him."

"No. They won't lay a finger on him." Severa feels her mother bring her close and slide a hand over her eyes. "I'm sorry, Severa. I don't want you watching this." She begins to haul her daughter backwards while talking into the phone in her hand.

She squirms and tries to buck off of her mother's hold until she hears the mob roar while two men scream in the background. There's a clamour rising ominously until there's a sudden sharp snap, a man's whimper, and sudden silence from the crowd. Her father's voice rises in the quiet, so angry and sharp that each bite of his words feel like hammer blows to her senses.

Severa's mother tugs her away and doesn't let go until they're in some part of town where the lights are cranked up so high that it blinds them as police cars speed past them on the streets. Their headlights shine on her mother's face, and she can see the tight set of her jaw, the narrowness of her eyes.

Severa looks up in her mother's exhausted face and wonders what's happening. "Where's Daddy?"

Her mother hums, tonelessly. "We'll see him in a few hours, honey. He's going to be busy at the police station for a bit to help those two men." She sweeps the strands from Severa's face. "Let's go get something to eat while we wait for him, okay?"

They paw at their food at a diner far away from the scene before her mother checks her watch with a worried look on her face. She sighs and takes them back to the car parked by the church, and Severa throws a fit because she doesn't want to leave without her father.

"We're not leaving him. I just need to drop you off at a friend's before picking him up, since it's getting late." Her mother looks tired as she drives into the suburbs of Valm. "We're going to see a close friend of mine from...before. You'll like her. Her name is Cherche, and she has a boy named Gerome around your age. You'll make a new friend."

Gerome and her do not become friends. The silent boy glares at her from behind his mother's legs at the front door as if blaming her for invading his space. Which she technically is, though not of her own volition.

Cherche hugs her mother warmly. There's the start of lines forming around her eyes. "It's been ages since..." She trails off as Severa's mother shakes her head. "Well, since we last saw each other. Where is your husband?"

"He got involved in stopping a fight downtown." Her mother's words come out slowly, hesitantly.

Cherche's eyes narrow. "A fight? Was it with people in hoods and dark robes?"

"Yes!" Severa pipes in. "And they were hurting the two men who helped us!"

"The Grimleal." Cherche pales and glances at her mother. "Cordelia, be careful getting involved with anything to do with them. They have people in a lot of public and powerful places. They caught two girls last week and—" Her breath catches. "Where are you going?"

Cordelia says, "I'm going down to the police station where Libra will probably be." The pointer finger on her right hand twitches for some reason. "Can you watch Severa for tonight?"

"Of course." Cherche smiles at the young girl, though her something in her expression wavers when she glances at Severa's mother. "We have a spare bedroom that you can use. Come on in." She fusses over Severa before stepping out to the front yard to whisper a conversation with Cordelia. Whatever they're talking about seems serious as the pair wear grim expressions and their utterances are sharp and pointed.

Cordelia shakes her head while Cherche looks very worried. She pulls Severa's mother into a tight hug and whispers something into her ear. Cordelia nods and comes back to embrace her own daughter for so long that Severa wonders what's wrong.

"Be good, Severa. I'll grab your father and see you soon." Her mother smile, though there's something tight in her eyes.

As Severa watches her drive away, she has the distinct feeling of terror as if she's would never see her again. She's inconsolable, though Cherche stays with her in the spare bedroom until she falls asleep. Gerome, begrudgingly, gives her a spare blanket that helps her calm her nerves.

When both her mother and father come to pick up her in the morning, she launches herself into their arms, holding onto them so tightly, they have to pry her off a few minutes later in order to thank Cherche and her husband properly.

Her mother whispers something in Cherche's ear, and the latter blanches. "Gregory was involved?" She glances at the doorway to see Severa listening in, and moves the conversation with her mother farther into the yard. Which is fine, because Severa turns her attention to her father who approaches her.

There's a dark bruise on her father's face, and the knuckles on his hands are red and scraped. He looks tired, but he smiles so brilliantly when she runs up to him as they are leaving the Valmese home.

"Daddy, I missed you. Are you okay?

"Nothing that being with my wife and daughter cannot fix." He reaches out to kiss her on the top of her head. "Are you okay, heart?"

Severa dodges the question. "What happened to the two men?"

Libra's smile slips off of his face. "They're being taken care of."

"And the bad ones?"

Something clenches in Libra's jaw. "They will be too."

"Why did they want to hurt them?" Severa drops her eyes. "Were those two men who helped us bad?"

"No. They did nothing wrong." Libra's tone is sharp. He relaxes and turns her daughter around to face him while Cordelia glances at them before moving ahead to give them some space. "There is only evil in those who choose to harm others. Remember that evil has no future. They will be wiped out by Naga's light when the time comes."

Severa remembers the brutal swings, the sheer hatred in the hunched figures. "But why did they hurt them?" she repeats.

"Sometimes, people cannot tolerate what they don't understand, and fear what they don't know." Her father rubs a hand over his face. "I'll tell you about it when we get home, because it's a long talk. Is that all right, Severa?"

He never does tell her, because they find out when they get back that Owain has been missing for two days.  
_

Severa wakes up from her nap behind the school lunch building in a nearby stand of trees. A young girl with a nervous expression and a strange charm consisting of polished round objects in her hands peers over her, biting her lower lip.

The recently sleeping girl sighs and sits up, stretching as she does so. "Did I miss class, Noire?"

"Almost." The word is whispered, shyly. Noire glances at Severa before looking away. "I thought you'd be here, so I came to wake you up before lunch was over. You wouldn't want to skip the first day of classes." A frown crosses her face when she peers at her friend's face closely. "You look like you had a nightmare."

Severa rubs a heel of one palm into her eye. "Just some memories." She stands. Her neck feels sore. "Please tell me we have something easy next class."

"Biology."

Fuck. Why is Severa taking that again?

She makes her way towards the school with Noire close behind. "I hate Mrs. Clearwater. She's all about for science this and for science that. And last year, she gave out way too much homework." Also, she insists on wearing a hat with an overly large brim to teach. What was up with that?

"She was really nice about helping you if...if you go after class to ask about the assignments." A flush courses across Noire's cheeks. "Sometimes, I ate lunch there...for help." Her eyes drop, and something like shame floods into her face.

Severa bumps into her friend gently with her shoulder. She can't stand it when Noire looks like that. "I'm not going to judge you about wanting better grades. Naga knows that my mom would love a daughter with your work ethics."

Something in Noire's eyes still burns, and she looks away. "It's not about the help."

Severa glances away, uncomfortable. She knows. "How's your mom's shop?" she ventures, carefully.

Noire lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "We're getting by." She's almost tearing apart the charm in her hands. "How are things with your parents?"

Severa has never been so glad to arrive at the class doors. She signals to Noire that she'll answer the question later and takes a seat near the windows. No one says hi to her, which is as it should be.

Noire casts her an apologetic look and sits closer to the front with the studious Nah. Severa waves it off with a careless gesture. She's not going to blame her friend for wanting to see the board better than where Severa's sitting. Thankfully, that moron Inigo and his buddies seem like they aren't taking this course, otherwise Severa is certain that she'd have torn out their throats by the second class, since they have a tendency to be obnoxious and stupid. And incompetent. So terribly incompetent.

Severa's attention catches onto the class ace walking through the door. She flips her long blue hair behind her and takes a seat in the second row, close by for some reason. Several of the other girls go up to greet her immediately, eager like puppies who haven't learned to be independent. Severa scowls at the scene, turning away to take her books out of her bag.

When she turns back, the girls are gone and Lucina is staring at her. Severa has no idea why, which causes something in her stomach to clench while something hot grips at her throat. She snarls without thinking as she always does. "What are you looking at?"

Lucina starts. Her face goes slightly pink. "Oh, sorry." She runs a hand through messy hair, frowning. "I was just thinking about the soccer team."

"While watching me?"

Lucina's face flushes. "I was just wondering...I heard that you're a good runner."

That much is true. Severa can outrun anyone in the school, save for Yarne. And even then, she can still catch up to him in longer races. "What does that have to do with the soccer team?"

"We could use more players, since one of our forwards has moved to Ferox. I thought it would be a good match, since it would also help round out your extracurricular activity requirements for university," Lucina says.

And be coached by her mom after school in addition to seeing her at home? No thanks.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to decline." Severa waves off Lucina's disappointed look. "Look, why would you even want me on the team? No one likes me, and I pick fights with everybody."

Lucina points out, "You don't pick ones with me."

Severa feels heat rush to her face. She hopes that no one notices. "Who picks fights with you, Miss Perfect?" she says quickly to cover up her lapse.

Lucina sighs and mutters something that sounds like "You'd be surprised." She clears her throat. "Would you at least give it a chance?"

"Absolutely not. Besides, you'd have to be good at soccer to be on the soccer team."

Lucina's eyes light up. "I could help train you. After practice to help catch up, I mean."

Some of the other students turn to look at them with the announced offer. Severa can practically feel their glares drilling into her head. "I'm pretty sure most people don't want me on any team."

"But I'm not most people." Lucina sighs. "Just think about it, please."

Severa nods, because she's afraid that if she talks, she'll reveal how her insides have tangled themselves into a mess from Lucina's words.

Lucina stares at her for a few moments longer before grabbing her books from her desk and moving to sit besides Severa. While the redhaired girl is having something short of a heart attack, Lucina finishes organizing her things and turns to her. "I've been thinking about you a lot since you drove me home a couple of weeks ago."

That catches the attention of everyone in general vicinity. Heads have snapped towards them, and Severa can feel sweat start to bead down her back. And not from the heat.

"Can you not say things like that?" Severa hisses. "It sounds wrong!" She raises her voice so the others can hear. "And me drive you home? You must have been dreaming.

A baffled expression crosses Lucina's face. "I don't understand. You'd rather not have people know that you're actually ki—"

Severa slams a hand over Lucina's mouth. Which unfortunately causes people's eyebrows to raise around them. "Not here." She is not good at this not-attracting-attention-thing.

Lucina nods, gingerly removing Severa's palm from her face. "Can we talk about it later?"

"Whatever."

Lucina smiles. "I'll take that as a yes then."

"Stop talking to me," Severa whispers. When Lucina looks hurt, she adds. "It'll damage your reputation."

Lucina goes quiet. "Do you really think that others think of you so little?"

"I don't have to think. They tell me it!" Severa snaps as Mrs. Clearwater walks into the room, precisely on the hour. One look from her, and the entire class shuts up immediately. She starts the class with a review of the last year where it becomes very clear that very few students aside from Lucina, Nah, and the teacher's own son actually recall the past year's material.

The amount of homework she assigns to make up for the forgetfulness makes Severa wonders if it's too late to drop the class. Her thoughts are interrupted by the appearance of someone unexpected at the entrance of the doorway.

Principle Flynn stands at the doorway, and Mrs. Clearwater arches an eyebrow in surprise. "Is there something you need, Robin? Like your daughter?"

Lucina starts to stand when the principle shakes her head. "No, I don't need to talk to her today." She smiles warmly at Lucina before turning her gaze to Severa. "Although if Miss Faulkner could accompany me to my office right now, that would be greatly appreciated.

Severa grips the edges of her desk. Lucina stares at her, as does everyone else in the class.

Shit. What did she do now?

The principal signals her to follow as she pulls back from the doorframe. Severa crams her books into her bags and and strides towards the exit, hearing the growing murmurs of her classmate at her back as she leaves.

They make their way towards the principal's office without a word spoken. When the principal opens the door and gestures towards a seat in front of her desk, Severa doesn't move. She stares at the principal who returns the gaze firmly before sitting behind her mahogany behemoth.

"Please sit, Miss Faulkner."

Severa's throat burns with words she's struggling not to say. She has some manners after all. She just chooses to use them sparingly.

"You're not in trouble, so please relax," the principal sighs. "Although I suppose that is my fault for calling you out so suddenly."

"Then why am I here?"

"To the point, I see. The short answer is that you're not. Yet." She leans back in her chair. "I'll extend you the same courtesy and keep this concise. I've looked over your career planning report that you turned in last year, and I thought that I would check the requirements for the university you wanted to apply for. The good news is that your grades are passable, but they've changed their admission standards this year to find students who are more well-rounded." Her eyes meets Severa's. "Which includes clubs and extracurricular activities of which you haven't had many."

More like none. "So, what are you suggesting? You seem like you have something in mind for me already."

The principle's eyes light up. "I do. I've taken the liberty to calculate the club that would maximize the most out of your skills while taking the least amount of time, and I would highly recommend the soccer team to round your skills out."

"The soccer team," Severa repeats flatly. Lucina and her mother came together this morning to team up on her, didn't they?

"Yes, getting onto the team demonstrates athletic ability, teamwork skills, perseverance, discipline, and if the team makes it to the nationals, there is a chance that the members of the team may be offer a scholarship to their university of their choice, depending on how far they make it." Robin gives her a calculating look. "And there are some people on the team who would greatly benefit from a scholarship."

Severa's knuckles tighten. "What does that have to do with me?"

Robin gazes at her. "You have a lot of potential in you, Severa. But you're afraid to use it."

Severa shoots up onto her feet. Propriety be damned. "I'm leaving if that's all you're talking about."

Principle Flynn becomes stern. "Do you plan to live here forever, Miss Faulkner? Your behaviour suggests otherwise. A scholarship would be your best bet to leave."

Severa pauses halfway out the door. Mostly because it was true.

"I suggest you talk it over with someone you trust before you come to a conclusion."

Severa's halfway through her signature shrug before she stops and turns to face the principal properly. "Whatever," she says as flippantly as possible, though she waits nervously to be dismissed.

The principal evaluates her for a long moment and smiles. "Just think about it, Severa. It's all I ask of you." She waves Severa goodbye, and the redhead feels oddly rattled. She skips the remainder of her biology class and makes her way to her car in the parking lot behind the school. Her hand's bringing out her phone before she's even out of the school, and she fires off a quick request to Noire to fill her in if more homework was assigned. The bell rings and quickly afterward, Severa's phone lights up with a response from her friend, a panicked question about where she went during class along with the additional pages meant for reading. The redhead groans. She's texting up a storm when she senses someone approaching.

Lucina stands before her, tucking a lock of hair behind her hair. "Hi, do you have a minute to talk right now?"

Severa scowls. "Don't you have something else to do right now?"

The Shepherd High star shakes her head. "Clubs are still setting up right now, so they don't need me right now. Actually, I was hoping that we'd get a chance to talk somewhere more private."

"If it's about soccer again, no thanks. I got the drill from your mom too." Severa opens her car door and narrows her eyes at Lucina moving to the passenger side door. "Hey, did I say you could come along, Princess?"

"Please don't call me that." Despite her reluctance of the title, Lucina waits with such certainty that Severa would open the door that redhead has to snort at the absurdity of it all. And at the fact that she actually reaches over to let her in. After checking that no one was around, of course.

"Thank you." Lucina has a second to buckle herself in before she's slammed to her seat as Severa reverses backwards so sharply, her tires could be heard squealing as she tears out of the parking lot.

Severa winces at the sound. That can't be good for her wheels. "So, spill. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Lucina peers at the scenery passing by them. Her eyes open in recognition. "You're driving me home?"

"Duh." Severa rolls her eyes. "And before you accuse me of being a stalker, I'd like to remind you that I drove you home a couple of weeks ago."

"I wasn't going to accuse you of being one." Lucina glances away. She coughs. "I wanted to talk about the possibility of us watching a movie together sometime."

"...why?"

"Because you're clearly someone other than what people make you out to be. I doubt that a girl who is actually deserving of your reputation would stop to help a stranger."

"You're not a stranger," Severa mumbles. She adds, a little louder. "You're welcome. No need to hang out as thanks." She pulls up in front of Lucina's house, a three story monster painted a dark red and built with stone older than their fathers. "See you."

Lucina hesitates. "I just want to get to know you better. That's all."

That, if possible, only made Severa more suspicious. "I'm not joining your dumb soccer team. So, you can forget about getting to know me."

Lucina's face flicker with hurt. "That's not why I want to..." She sighs before pulling out her notepad out of her bag and tearing off a corner of a sheet. She scribbles on it with a pen from her pocket and passes it to the stunned driver. "We can talk about things besides soccer, you know." She glances at the redhead one last time before shaking her head and getting out of the car. "Thanks for the ride, Severa." She sweeps into her house without a glance back.

Severa stares at the number written carefully across the torn paper in her hand. After a few moments' thought, she crumples it up and tosses the wad into her backseat before turning around and driving back to her own house.

She's caught speeding by Lucina's father on her way home.

Severa curses as he approaches her car, a ticket pad in one hand while his shiny sheriff's badge gleams in the sunlight. Since when did the sheriff handle traffic duty?

"Hi there, I think I know you." He leans down to look at her, tipping his hat. "You go to the same school as my daughter, don't you?"

"Everyone does." There was one freaking high school. "Can I help you, Sheriff?"

He smiles at her. "You can just call me Chrom like everyone else."

...no thanks.

He continues, "Anyway, you were over the speed limit on that stretch of road back there, and I'm supposed to give you a ticket. I'm not a fan of unnecessary discipline, so we can settle with a warning if you swear to stay within the speed limits. Well, at least when any officers are watching you." His eyes twinkle.

Severa mutters a vague sort of promise, and the sheriff takes that easily. It helps when he's being distracted by whatever he's watching for as his eyes dart around the intersection. "Is something wrong?"

Chrom snap his eyes back to her. He smiles, but it seems a little strained. "Not at all. Enjoy the rest of your day." He walks back slowly to his car, and as Severa watches him, she catches something sticking out of his pocket that looks a flyer with three pairs of eyes stacked on top of each other, marked with black lines connecting them as if they were crying.

And for some reason, that makes her uneasy.


	3. Butterflies and Hurricanes

Inigo transfers into Severa's biology class. Easily the second worst day of her life. Mostly because he insists on sitting next to Lucina and the school star seats herself next to her, so Severa was also subjected to his inane flirting.

"Get a room, already!" She snarls, not bothering to keep her voice down, which earns her a firm reprimand from Mrs. Clearwater. "Or sit somewhere else, so I can't hear you two."

Lucina colours. "I'm not involved with Inigo," she states very firmly. "He's just friendly."

Friendly is not the word that Severa would use.

Inigo, unfortunately, decides to join their conversation. "Ladies, so grim today? Are you not aware that smiles from a pair of beauties such as yourselves would be enough to light up the entire room?"

Huh, smiles can apparently power classrooms. Should ask Mrs. Clearwater about the physics of that.

"Inigo, we're working on our assignments. Now is not the time to be joking," Lucina explains, patiently. "And I was having a conversation with Severa."

"The serial scowler?" He sighs and turns his attention to the girl about two corny lines away from jabbing him in the throat. "I could die happy if I could see you laugh at least once in my lifetime."

He could die right now, and it would make Severa happy for her lifetime. "You idiot. You think any girl is going to fall for your lines when they hear you use the same one over and over again?"

"You wound me. This is a brand new line, designed to make lovely ladies such as yourselves swoon in bliss and show the world your pretty smiles."

Severa raises a hand while facing the teacher, and Mrs Clearwater arches her brows in surprise. "May I be reassigned to a different seat?"

"There are no more available spots, although you may feel free to switch places with a peer if they consent to it." Mrs. Clearwater pushes up her glasses. "And Mr. Montoya, if you could please concentrate on your work, it would greatly reduce the noise levels in this classroom," she says with a noticeable amount of exasperation.

Severa makes desperate eyes at Noire, but her friend shakes her head in apology. The shy girl glances at Inigo, who notices and winks in her direction, and she whips around, her face redder than Severa's hair.

...really? She was going to have a talk with Noire about that later.

Lucina leans over, interruping her concentration. Mostly because the girl has been brushing against Severa all day. "Have you finished drawing the possible ways that molecules can transfer energy yet?"

How the hell was she supposed to do that? "Yes. Thanks for asking, Lucina. You can go back to your work now."

"What about reviewing the laws of thermodynamics?"

"We obey them in my house. They seem fair."

"Severa." Lucina seems exasperated. "I'm being serious."

The redhead arches her eyebrows. "You don't think knowing energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system is important?"

Surprise pops onto Lucina's face. "So, you were paying attention."

The bell rings, and Severa can finally leave this classroom and the two headaches on her right. She makes her way to Noire before anyone can stop her, and gestures for the dark-haired girl to follow her out. She plasters on a bored expression but catches Lucina trying to pack her bag while conversing with Inigo who leans on her desk, looking star-struck. Lucina looks mildly irritated.

Noire glances back at the classroom as they head down the hallway. "You're not waiting for her?"

Severa scowls. "We're not friends just because she won't leave me alone in biology." And history. And chemistry. And math. Why is Lucina in so many of Severa's classes?

Noire tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and drops her eyes. "I don't know. She seemed like she likes you a lot."

"Speaking of liking someone...Inigo?" Severa whirls on her friend as they arrive in the parking lot. "Spill."

"Severa!' Noire looks around, horrified, and claps her hands to her mouth. "Not here!" She scurries to the passenger side of Severa's car. "L-let's talk about it back at my place."

The fact that Noire offered her house as somewhere to chat means that whatever she's hiding is big. Noire's place is small and on the edge of the town, and the shy student doesn't bring anyone over. It was only through Severa's persistent cajoling that she even managed to find out where it was, and even then, a few more weeks for Noire to reluctantly invite her over.

They pass the main section of town, sticking to a side street to reach the outskirts of town. There's a road that runs parallel to the river and requires driving through a thick weave of forest so that they can see the tire tracks that lead to Noire's house. Noire's mother drives a heavy clunker of a car which, if it ever hits anything, looks like it might burst into flames.

The house itself could be kindly described as creepy and reminds Severa of a dilapidated witch's hut from the less cheery fairytales. It's about a story tall with paint peeling off of its sides and looks like a slight wind could bowl it over. Some of the red brick tiles have fallen from the roof and are stacked besides one outer wall while a fence composed of thick wooden stakes and heavy wire circle the house, just at the edge where the clearing meets the trees. The yawn is meticulously tended, oddly enough, though a patch of strange plants grow off to one side, sprouting in lurid shades of mauve, violet, and orange. And Severa thinks she sees some with teeth.

Noire glances at Severa, biting her lip while the latter kills the engine. "My mother's not back from the shop yet. We have time to talk." She jumps out of the car and hurries to the front door to double-check that Tharja isn't home. She disappears inside the house, and Severa takes her time getting out of the car. She hasn't had the best experiences here in her previous visits.

The last time she came, a crocodile skull nearly brained her after falling from a cabinet she'd accidentally jostled. Which was still better than the time she unintentionally unleashed Tharja's collection of bats by peeking into the cellar after hearing some weird sounds from there. To her credit, Noire's mother gave a plausible reason for keeping the bats, as their guano made excellent plant fertilizer. Not that it stopped her from cursing up a storm at Severa for letting quite a few of them go.

Noire breaks into Severa's thoughts and reappears at the door, huffing slightly. "You can come in now. I've put away the newest of mother's potions, so we don't have to worry about spilling them." She leads Severa into a house with furniture that looks like it belongs to the last century but otherwise is well-swept and clean, despite the awful shade of turquoise green wallpaper that lines the rooms. There is a faint smell of something long dead and dusty lingering in the air, but it gets covered up by the bundles of dried lavender, oregano, and rosemary hanging around the walls in the kitchen. They turn left into a kitchen with a scratched plastic table at its centre, dark curtains, and a spice rack next to the fridge that Severa isn't sure is filled with spices.

Her friend takes a whistling kettle that's slightly dented from the stove and pours some into some chipped teacups waiting on the table. "This is just chamomile. Don't worry. It's not one of Mother's herbs," Noire says after glancing at Severa's expression. "Do you want anything to eat?"

Severa shakes her head and seats herself. "I'm good." She waits until her friend sits down before taking a breath. "So, you have the hots for Inigo?"

It's lucky that Noire's not drinking her tea, because she looks like she would have spat it out all over Severa. "No! Of course not! He doesn't even know me." She pulls a charm from her pocket and fiddles with it. "He's just in a couple of my classes."

"Uh-huh. That explains why you turn red around him. And why you wouldn't take my seat."

Noire frowns. "Severa, you know that I want to get my grades up. I can't afford to be distracted by what goes on in the back of class. Especially between you and Lucina."

Severa is, unfortunately, drinking tea when Noire says that. She spurts out some of her chamomile before grabbing a tissue from a nearby box and bringing it to her mouth. "Gawds, you have the worst timing. And there's nothing going on. Also, we were talking about you and Inigo!"

Noire's cheeks turn red, but she continues on. "And that's why she was flirting with you all day?"

Severa scoffs, "I don't think Lucina even knows how to flirt."

Noire shakes her head. Her voice trembles slightly. "S-so, you didn't notice the way she leaned over your shoulder in history this morning when she asked about the assignment? Or when her arm brushed against yours every time you talked? Think about it, Severa. Lucina gets better grades than you. Why would she ask you about how moles work in chemistry?"

Yeah, that was kind of weird now that Severa thinks about it. "I don't know. She's just naturally very touchy?" She did tend to give hugs a lot to her friends. Not that Severa noticed.

Something flickers on Noire's face, and she hesitates for a long moment before changing the subject. "Are you thinking about the principal's suggestion?" Severa had filled in her friend shortly after she got home about what happened. "I think you'd do really well."

Severa scoffs. "Of course not. She clearly has something planned with Lucina, and I don't want any part of that." She lifts her teacup to her lips before pausing. She squints at what appears to be a bundle of white-blond hair hanging from a nail near the refrigerator with a cord and a label that states "Robin" across its surface. Was that Principal Flynn's hair?

Noire cuts into her thoughts. "I don't think it's anything as devious as you think. And Lucina is really nice. She's helped me a few time with my English homework whenever I bump into her at the library."

"Whatever. The soccer team's for losers, anyway." Severa drains her tea before realizing that Noire has gone still and her lips are tightly compressed. "What's with that face?"

Her friend's eyes flash with annoyance. "What if I said that I wanted to join those 'losers'?"

"And play soccer?" Noire gets sick from chasing butterflies. Severa can't imagine how she'd do training in all sorts of weather. "Why? You're clearly better than that."

Noire bares her teeth in a snarl and bolts onto her feet. Severa gets half a second of surprise before her friend explodes. "BETTER? SEVERA, LOOK AT MY HOUSE. LOOK AT WHERE I AM. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME WHEN I GRADUATE? DO YOU THINK MY MOM CAN AFFORD TO SEND ME TO UNIVERSITY ON HER OWN? IF I CAN GET AN ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP, I CAN—" Her face crumbles, and she collapses into her chair. "I'm sorry. I d-didn't mean to yell at you. Please don't be mad at me, Severa." She wipes at her eyes and hiccups. "Forget you heard that. I don't think I'm meant to go anyways."

Severa sit in stunned silence during Noire's tirade. At her friend's deprecation, she leaps forward, clasping her hands. "Are you kidding me? You're one of the smartest girls in school! Way smarter than me. There's no way someone like you should be missing out on doing something with your brain, because you're hanging in a hick town like this."

"What choice do I have?" Noire gestures weakly around at the shabbiness of her dwelling. "Do you really think I have the money? It's easier to leave my dreams than to leave here," she finishes, quietly.

"That's not true." Severa opens and closes her mouth several times. She can't think of anything to add, so she changes the subject. "What college do you want to go anyway?"

Noire drops her eyes. "Ishtar University near Plegia."

Severa gapes. "The prestiguous art school? Gawds, they're so picky in their selection."

"Which is why I've been working on my portfolio for the last year. Not that it'll do any good when I can't even pay tuition." She starts when Severa touches her arm.

"Noire, you're crazy talented. No sane art school is going to reject you after they've seen what you can do." She clears her throat. "Can you show me what you've put together?"

Noire's room is covered from wall-to-wall of paintings she's done since elementary school. Some are disturbing with spirls of dark colours and violent lines; others are like a kaleidoscope of shapes and colours, oils carefully applied to give a sense of the absurd. One looks like a mountain burning below a sky melting from blue to orange. Another is of a tiny figure of a man before a massive glacier that makes him look like a pinpoint of red in a sea of white. Along Noire's windowsill lies cans filled with rocks, screws, and other odd collections of miscellaneous items while labelled with random prices. Noire once tried to elaborate on why she had them when Severa asked by saying she was experimenting with dadaism and promptly loses her friend thirty seconds into her explanation.

There are also canvases of half-finished portraits sitting in the corner that look eerily life-like, as if they could hop out of the picture and start annoying Severa in person. The redhead arches a brow at the completed painting of someone they both know sitting on an easel. The image is even more handsome and irritating than its original source. "And you say you don't have a crush on him."

Noire blushes at the portrait of Inigo. She doesn't defend herself. "I have sketches and photographs too if you want to see them." She glances at her friend shyly. "Though they're not the same as yours."

She hands Severa charcoal sketches of figures in various poses—skipping, jumping, laughing. One looks suspiciously like her, if certain lines were supposed to be twin tails, leaning over the open hood of a car. A bundle of photographs sit in a crinkled manila envelope. When she pulls them out, she's startled by the sharp lines in crisp black-and-white. "This isn't from a digital camera."

"No, it's an old SLR that used to belong to my father." Noire glances away. "Mother let me set up a dark room in one of the spares downstairs. It's tiny and I have to get a fan to ventilate it, but it works."

"Look at this stuff. This is insane." Severa scans through the photographs, stopping on one showing Lucina studying alone in an empty library, gaze intense and hand in the middle of running through thick locks of gorgeous hair. The light from a lamp throws her profile in sharp display, and highlights those perfect eyebrows, the crisp slope of her nose, and the definition of her jaw. She's looking at the book she's reading with such focus that her expression is almost frighteningly fierce, like a warrior about to make the first strike in a fight.

Severa's mouth goes dry for a while. "If I had half the talent you do, I'd march up to Ishtar's registration office and demand they give me a scholarship to cover my tuition."

Noire blushes. "But I'm not you, Severa. And I did look at the scholarships they offered. If I choose to live on the streets during my studies, they would be enough to cover the three-quarters of the first year."

This damn college. Sheesh.

"Which is why I need the new scholarship Ishtar offers. It'll be more than enough to cover my entire studies as long as I continue with soccer and keep my grades up." Noire furrows her brows and chews at her bottom lip. "If the team makes it to the national, I definitely have a chance to be noticed. Ishtar University looking to add more students from athletic backgrounds to their students. But I heard a couple of star students left this year to transfer schools."

Severa looks surprised. "Lucina told me it was just one."

Noire shakes her head. "A couple more left recently." She bites her lip. "I don't know if the team have enough good players to make it to the nationals. Especially people fast enough to outrun the other teams."

...no.

This is not going where Severa thinks it's going. "And if they don't?"

Noire fiddles with her fingers. She doesn't meet Severa's eyes. "I'll stay here after graduation and help Mother run the shop." Noire sits down on her bed and picks at the worn bedding. "I suppose a shopkeeper's life would be good enough for someone like me."

"One, stop putting yourself down. Two, do you have a back-up plan?"

"Like what? Ask someone for money?" Noire says, softly. "You know it's just Mother and me."

Severa winces. "Credit loans? Student ones?"

"On Mother's credit?" Noire sighs. "I've looked into student ones, but they can only offer so much. Still, it's something I guess I can do." She glances at the clock, and her eyes widen. She bolts onto her feet. It's almost six. You need to leave before Mother comes home. She still hasn't forgiven you for the chicken incident."

Nor Severa her. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get out of your hair." They make their way downstairs, and Noire surprises her with a hug at the doorway.

"Thank you. For listening. I think you might be the only person here who cares about me."

That is sad on so many levels. Even sadder when Severa considers that she's almost in the same boat. "No problems. And hey, you are definitely going to go to Ishtar one way or another. Talent like yours can't be left to die."

Noire looks doubtful but grateful all the same. She waves as the redhead's pulling away from the grassy driveway, and doesn't stop until Severa no longer sees her in her rear view mirror.

The nervous driver, however, is a bundle of raw emotions. She thinks about what Noire's told her, about her chances, and her dreams. And what she's willing to do to get them. Noire is so much braver than she thinks she is. Severa wishes that she'd give herself a chance. She wishes that the world would.

As she drives home, the redhead tries to think of ways to help her friend get to her goal. One possible solution stays lodged in the front of her brain, despite every single attempt she made to wipe it out of her mind.

Severa pulls up to the front of her car and turns off the engine, resisting the urge to bang her head repeatedly against the wheel. She also realizes that Noire has somehow successfully skirted her interrogation about her Inigo crush.

Fuck.

FUCK.

In the end, she swears violently and climbs into her backseat, searching for a certain crumpled up wad of paper somewhere at the bottom of her car. She finally finds the damn thing somehow jammed under her own seat with several tears in the sheet. Carefully, she smooths out the wrinkles by flattening it against her knee before pulling out her phone.

She holds her breath as the rings go by.

Lucina picks up. "Hello?"

"Hey," Severa swallows something in her throat, "I was just thinking about what you said about the soccer team. How many people do you need?"


	4. Unintended

Severa huffs as she wipes the sweat from her eyes. Her lungs hurt.

Lucina stands in the middle of the grass field, watching her carefully. She taps on the soccer ball in front of her with her foot. "Can you continue?"

"Of course," Severa scoffs and straightens up. "I could do this all day." She's dying.

Lucina smiles, dribbling the ball almost lazily between her feet. "Good. We'll have to train hard to get you up to speed with the others. Maybe every day for the next month or so."

Severa thinks about Lucina's prediction. She seriously contemplates dying. "You know, I have a life outside of your soccer club."

"Which I wouldn't want to infringe upon, but you were the one who approached me about joining the team."

The redhead huffs. She was. Damn, that principal was so good at manipulating her. She should take lessons. "Yeah, but I said that Noire and I wanted to join." She wipes at her forehead. "Where is she anyway?"

"Ah. I thought it would be easier to give personalized lessons before the trials if we taught one-on-one. Noire is working with Kjelle." Lucina smiles at her, something soft in her expression. "And I took you."

Joy. "Whatever. Let's just get to practice."

A small frown crosses Lucina's face, but she nods. "As you wish."

Lucina ruins her. By the end of the practice, Severa has run so many laps back and forth across the field that she barely made it out to her car without collapsing on her wobby legs.

She pants against the top of her car, not bothering to get in yet. And of course Lucina shows up on the side of her car, looking not exhausted whatsoever.

"Are you okay? You took off so quickly, I had to come after you to check on you," Lucina says. There's a slight tinge of red to her cheeks, but it fades so rapidly that Severa wonders if she imagined it. "Was it something I said that made you leave?"

"No." Severa ducks her head and reaches into her pocket to find her keys. "I'm just starving." Which she is, but the real reason happened in the locker room where she turned her head to ask Lucina something, only to catch a glimpse of the long, lean muscles of the soccer star's back as she pulled off of her shirt. Severa was out of there faster than Yarne faced with homework.

Lucina's eyes scan her face. They almost seem to be searching for something before the captain nods and gestures to Severa's car. "Then may I suggest that we stop at Donnie's to grab something to eat? It's on the way to both of our homes." A growl emanates from Lucina's stomach. "And...you may not be the only one who is hungry."

Severa catches herself between a scoff and a snort. "I can drop you off there if you want." Really, she has no intention of being seen eating with Lucina. She didn't want rumours to follow the taller girl like they did her.

Lucina's expression falters slightly, but there's a determined glint in her eyes. "As your captain, I insist you eat. Especially when you barely have the energy to walk off the fields after training."

Severa flinches. So, she did see that. "You're not my mother." Though honestly, Severa listens to Lucina more than her anyway. "And look, I already said no. Either take the ride or walk home." She hates how harsh she sounds. There's not a small amount of relief when Lucina doesn't seem to take offence at her tone and merely nods in response.

They get in Severa's car, and she backs out of the parking lot before swerving onto the main road leading to the centre of town. Lucina glances at her before fidgeting with the hem of her shirt for some reason. "What did you think of the training?"

Severa thinks of the drills. "Does everyone train like that?"

"No, but I was asked to evaluate your fitness level for the team." She coughs, and a slight flush courses across her cheeks. "You passed, by the way."

"Oh, good. At least, all that suffering counted for something." Severa checks her side mirror before pulling over to the right lane. "Are we going to train in those uniforms too?"

"What's wrong with the uniforms?"

Severa looks at her out of the corner of her eye. "They're kind of...skimpy. Like they don't cover enough skin."

Lucina glances at Severa before planting her gaze firmly on her feet. "The shorts did seem a bit small on you." The tips of her ears have gone red, and Severa has no idea why. "Were you cold in them?"

The tight, black spandex of the soccer team's shorts barely covered the tops of Severa's thighs. She was freezing. "I managed, but longer shorts would be nice." And warm. Sheesh.

"I'll ask our coach to order some new ones for the season." Lucina swallows, and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. Her voice drops to a whisper. "Though I thought you looked good in our current one."

Severa glances sharply at her passenger, who suddenly finds her dashboard fascinating. Was she...?

The large windows and bright blue walls of Donnie's Diner comes into view, and the pair lapse into silence as Severa parks the car in the quiet lot behind the restaurant. Severa kills the engine and waits for Lucina to leave while the tall soccer star stares at her knees as if trying to muster something from them.

Severa's about to ask if she is all right when her captain blurts out, "Would you like to join me for dinner? I know you already said that you wouldn't, but it would be a pleasure to have your company."

Lucina talks so strangely sometimes. "Sorry, I got homework to do." Which she doesn't plan to finish. "And I don't think it's a good idea to spend more time together than necessary. You don't want people to think—"

There's an expression on Lucina's face that catches Severa off-guard and makes the redhead's body flush with guilt. It looks almost as heartbroken as the time Lucina's family found out that Owain wasn't coming home.

"Oh, all right. But only if there's no one else there. And because you're forcing me," Severa grumbles. She pretends her stomach isn't flipping from the happiness in Lucina's eyes.

The taller girl scrambles out of the car and makes it to Severa's side to open it for her. Her cheeks flush, and her voice has a breathless quality to it that has the redhead feel like something in her chest is the one doing flips now. "Sorry, I just...I'm just really excited to eat with you."

Severa gives her an odd look before shrugging off the comment. "Yeah, sure." She fails to see what's so exhilarating about eating at Donnie's. "Let's just grab a seat in the corner somewhere."

To Severa's relief, the diner is quiet with a few patrons lazily finishing off the crumbs of their meals.

The diner's owner and head chef greets a startled Lucina with a giant hug. He turns to give the same greeting to Severa, catches the redhead's expression, and settles for a smile instead. He doesn't seem intimidated by her. "You gals just missed the dinner rush, but I reckon there's still some grub left in the kitchen." He glances up at Lucina and whistles while she blushes. "And you've grown so big, Luci. How come you don't come around here no more?"

He glances at Severa. "Or are you too busy meeting ladies to catch up with old Donnie?"

"She's a prospective teammate for the school's soccer team," Lucina says, quickly. "And I'm sorry, Donnie. School and sports have been crazy, and I forgot to visit."

Donnie waves her explanation. "It's fine. I know you're at that age where you've got other interests to pursuit." He winks at the other girl, and Lucina turns as red as Severa's hair. "Tell your ma and pa that I said hi, and especially tell that mother of yours to visit me more. She's nearly as bad as you," he laughs as he leads them to a secluded corner of the diner. He bids them goodnight to Severa's relief, and several minutes later, Yarne's mother comes up to them to take their orders with a scowl.

Severa crosses her arms and taps her fingers along her biceps as she waits for their orders. She's not sure what to say to the girl across from her now that they're out of school and practice. Lucina's eyes follow her fingers before darting up to Severa's face, her eyes roaming as if searching for something. It gets on Severa's nerves, and she snaps without thinking. "What?"

Lucina flushes slightly, but she meets Severa's gaze. "You're uncomfortable around me."

"I'm uncomfortable around everyone," Severa mutters, though she's not sure if Lucina heard her. "It's a free country. I can act however I want."

"I don't dispute that, but if we are going to be on the same team, I want you to be okay when you're talking to me. I'm just...I'm just a girl like the others."

Severa scoffs. "You? Miss Perfect?" The redhead would consider herself lucky if she was half as skilled as the dirt on Lucina's high-tops. "I don't think you've noticed, but you're kind of like the top student in the school. You're a big deal."

Lucina winces. She looks sad. "You're quite smart yourself, Severa. I don't know why you act like you're not."

The redhead's eyebrows shoot into her hairline. "What would you know about that?"

"I hear my mother talk about you sometimes. She sees a lot in you and says that you're the kind of girl who'll make a big impact one day."

The principal thinks that about her? Severa has trouble believing that, but there's something about Lucina's expression that has the redhead trusting that her words are true. "Her expectations might be too high." She glances away as she said, unable to bring about her typical sharpness. "But thanks for telling me."

There's a quiet that settles between them that almost feels comfortable. Lucina breaks it. "I am interested in hearing about why you'd suddenly decided to join the soccer team." Lucina's gaze meets hers, and Severa finds herself sitting up straighter. "I've heard you say that you'll never join any club, so I'm wondering about the change of heart."

Severa rubs her neck. She feels heat rise to her cheeks. "It's nothing to make a big deal out of. Your mom just pointed out that if the soccer team makes the nationals, there's a good chance that the members will get scouted by some good colleges and offered a scholarship." She doesn't tell her that she's not the person wanting one. "So, might as well try for the team or something like that."

Lucina looks stunned. Her voice goes quiet. "So, you're looking to leave here."

It's not something that hasn't crossed Severa's mind. "Do you want to stay in the middle-of-nowhere?"

"I suppose not." Lucina glances down at her fingers. That heartbroken expression comes back onto her face, and Severa's not even sure what she did. "Where were you thinking of going?"

"I'm not sure yet. I just..." Severa looks out the window. "It's nothing. Really."

They are interrupted by a grumpy Panne slamming down two plates of the house's special in front of them, and Lucina digs into her food without looking at Severa. The redhead joins in, feeling as if she's messed up terribly but not really knowing why.

They finish the meal in silence, pay in silence, and somehow, Severa ends up driving Lucina home, though she doesn't know why or how. It just feels like she did something to hurt Lucina, and she needed to do something to make up for it. She glances at her passenger, who seems determined to stare out the window and avoid conversation. It's only when they arrive in front of Lucina's house that Severa finally gets the nerve to grab Lucina's arm before she's out the car. She has to say something to make that sad look go away.

"Hey, look. Just keep what I said between us. It's not public knowledge quite yet, if you know what I mean." At Lucina's nod and blank stare, Severa continues on. "And thanks for coaching me. I'm not the easiest—I like talking to you. You're not an idiot and—" Oh gods, Severa, how are you messing this up so fast? "—and I'd to spend more time with you. Outside of school, I mean."

"Before you leave, you mean?" Lucina's expression is unreadable, but her tone is soft. "I'd like that too." She glances at where Severa is touching her arm and sighs. She slips back into the car and leans towards Severa, whose breath catches. "But you should know that I like you more than just as a possible teammate and friend."

What?

Oh.

Severa's mind goes blank. She's absolutely useless, and all she can focus on is the thought that Noire was right.

She doesn't know if Lucina catches on that she's nonplussed, but her former passenger shakes her head and brushes her lips against Severa's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

The redhead can only nod dumbly in response while Lucina leans back out and closes the car door, crossing her paved driveway to make it into her house. She glances back for a long while at Severa before closing her front door.

All that Severa can do is sit in her car and wonder what she's gotten herself into.


	5. Undisclosed Desires

Lucina spends ten minutes hyperventilating behind the safety of her front door.

She hears the hum of Severa's car pick up and fade away, and the trembling girl brushes at her hair, her hand coming away with sweat from touching her forehead.

What was she thinking confessing to Severa Faulkner like that?

She leaps up the stairs just to the right of her and calls back a response at her brother's confused holler. It sounds like he was in the living room, but Lucina shies away from speaking to him right now. She just needs to talk to someone who can sort out the mess in her head.

Lucina brushes past the landing on the second floor, past her family's bedrooms, and up a short flight of stairs that led to the attic where she slept. Her father had thought she would appreciate the privacy of her own space and moved her there a year ago; her mother took over renovating the space after he punched a plate-sized hole in the side of a wall.

Lucina moves into her room and quickly locks the door behind her before sinking down into her bed beside the door. She fishes through her pockets for her phone before pulling it out and calling her best friend's number.

Cynthia picks up on the second ring and cheers into the phone. "Hey, Lucina! Great timing. Mom and I just finished closing the bakery. Want to come over and watch the latest Shadowgift movie on my laptop? Your aunt's in it."

Lucina winces. She wasn't quite in the mood to watch Aunt Aversa screech and pout in her typical dramatic flair, although it apparently won her an award. "Not at the moment. I need to tell you about what happened with Severa after practice."

"Of course, something happened." Cynthia's tone is flat. "Did she insult you?"

"No, nothing like that. She—"

"Geez, why do we even need her on the team? You and I are fast enough to take on any team on our own."

"We need an additional person, and you've seen Severa sprint before." Both Cynthia and Lucina had caught an irate Severa bolting after a howling Yarne in the fields behind the school, because...what was even happening then? Neither Yarne nor Severa ever brought up the incident. "Her speed would be useful in addition to her natural aggression."

"That's the thing! She's, like, too aggressive. She mocks me every single chance she gets. Oh, and she's anti-social. And she's mean."

"Cynthia." Lucina runs a hand through her hair slowly. "She's not as bad as you think she is."

"Of course you wouldn't think that. Not with the massive crush you have on her mom."

"I don't—" Lucina's lucky that it's not a face-to-face conversation. "—Miss Faulkner is just really passionate at explaining the various poems of famous writers." She changes the subject. "I just had dinner with Severa."

"...why?"

"I wanted to get to know her better, and dinner seemed like a good idea." She thinks about Severa's revelation and bites her lip. "Cynthia, I should tell you that—"

"Please don't tell me you have a crush on Severa."

"...um...okay, then."

There's a long pause. "Really, Lucina? After everything she's said to me? To you? After Owain—"

"That wasn't her fault." Lucina's voice comes out sharp and high.

"Yeah, but after everything that's happened, it's like she's cursed. Who knows? Maybe if she wasn't the one that walked by the river—"

"She didn't do anything! It was—" Lucina's throat closes up, and she lets out a choked sound. "Please don't talk about him," she asks, quietly. "Please."

"Oh my gods. I'm sorry, Lucina." Cynthia's voice comes out in a whisper. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry that I brought him up. And I'm sorry about what I said about Severa. If you think that she's good for the team, I'll deal with it." The next set of words are grumbled. "I'll take one for the team." A pause. "Noire's okay though. She can come too."

The soccer captain lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Thank you." She clears her throat. "I...I should go."

"Lucina—"

"It's fine, Cynthia. I just need some space right now." Lucina hangs up the phone, despite another round of apologies from her friend. She drops her face into her hands and lets out a sigh. She didn't even mention confessing to Severa to her.

Her phone rings again, and Lucina ignores it. She heads downstairs and makes her way into the living room on the first floor. Her younger brother is lying on his belly some distance from the couch with his math textbook in front of him, his brows furrowed in concentration. He glances up when she enters and yawns in greeting.

"Hey, Lucina." He runs a hand through his perpetually messy hair. "You're home late."

"I was having dinner with someone. Did you get something to eat yet?"

"I made some cereal." He shrugs. "I'm still banned from the stove after I set eggs on fire."

He, unfortunately, inherited all of his cooking skills from their dad. "Morgan, I can—"

"It's fine, Sis. I can handle myself." He rolls onto his back and glances up at her upside down. "So, what's up with you and your date?"

Lucina starts. "I never said it was one."

He grins at her, slyly. "No, you did not." He flips himself back to his front. "But you didn't deny it either."

Little brothers can be so annoying. "It wasn't a date."

"Then, why are you in so much denial?"

Very annoying. "Morgan—"

The sound of the front door opening catches their attention.

"Is that Mom?" Morgan frowns. "It's too early for Dad to come home."

Their mother pops her head into the doorway. "Hey guys, good to see you home. Did you have dinner yet?" When both Lucina and Morgan affirm her answer, she continues. "Good, I'll make something for your father and I. You're welcome to join in if you get hungry later."

"Wait, Mom!" Lucina follows their mother into the kitchen situated near the front door. "I just wanted to let you know that I finished my first training practice with Severa Faulkner."

"Oh?" Her mother shrugs off her dark coat and sets her purse on the kitchen table. "How'd it go?"

"She's fit enough to join. And she learns really quickly."

"I suspected as much." Her mother pulls out broccoli along with some chicken breasts from the refrigerator. "Thank you for taking her on, honey. I know you're really busy, and I'm glad that you're taking some time out of your schedule to help your classmate."

"It was my pleasure." Lucina thinks of Severa running in her tiny soccer shorts. She flushes. "I mean, I enjoyed teaching her."

Her mother glances sidelong at her. A faint smile pulls at a corner of her mouth. "I see. Well, then, do take care to not let her distract you too much from your homework." She walks to the far end of the kitchen and fishes an onion from the pantry. "Your father called me and wanted to mention that he'll be home late again."

"He's always home late," Lucina mutters under her breath. The glance her mother cast over her shoulder means that she heard her. Oops.

"Lucina, is something the matter?" Her mom slowly puts the ingredients down on the kitchen island between them.

"It's just...Dad's almost never home." Lucina can recall the rare moments when he returned home before she was asleep.

Her mother's eyes flicker. "He's been working on a long case, and I know it's not fair that he doesn't spend any time with you or Morgan. Ever since—" She glances at Lucina and seem to change her mind on whatever she was about to say. "He does love you both. He's just very close to cracking a case that's going to protect everyone."

"But it's been years on the same case. Maybe I can help." Maybe she can lay Owain to rest in her mind.

"Lucina, you are 16. Even if you were allowed to help, legally, you're not supposed to. No one but your father and his deputies are allowed on the case." Her mother's eyes flicker in annoyance. "Even I'm not allowed to assist him."

Lucina runs her hands through her hair. She bites down hard on her lip. "I just wish I could do something. I wish he was here."

Her mother gathers her daughter into a hug. She looks sad. "He will be. Just be patient, Lucina."

They part, and Lucina helps her mother make dinner though she's not hungry. She later makes her way to her bedroom and locks the door behind her, crossing the large rainbow rug in the middle of the room to reach her aging bookshelf on the other side of the room. She reaches into a favourite childhood book about talking rabbits and pulls out a faded yellow card made of construction paper.

She opens it, gazing on the purple, blue and red splashes of round balloons above a scrawl wishing her happy birthday in serious, painfully penned letters. Lucina still opens it from time to time, a birthday card Severa gave to her when they were still friends. She hadn't known that it was the last gift she would receive from her. She didn't know that in the following week, Severa would find Owain in the river.

And she didn't expect that it would be the last time she would speak to her as a friend. Until now.

Lucina shakes her head, shoves the card and the memories back into her book. She leaves her bookshelf to sit at her adjacent desk, flipping open the math textbook on her desk. She can worry about what to do tomorrow when she sees Severa in school.  
_

Severa isn't in class, which does not totally surprise Lucina but her absence leaves something heavy in the worried girl's throat. Cynthia spends the entire day apologizing, and Lucina has to ask the forlorn girl to stop halfway through chemistry class. The misery is short-lived as Miss Faulkner introduces a new transfer student from Rosanne with a brooding demeanour, broad shoulders, and a face that made most girls in the class gape in awe.

Cynthia elbows her in the side as the transfer student takes a seat on Lucina's left. "Oh my god, he's so hot! Miss Faulkner said his name is Gerome, right?"

Lucina shoots her an annoyed look before shifting to greet the new student. Who's already staring at her. "Welcome to Ylissetol. I'm Lucina." She holds out her hand to him, and he blinks at it before grunting and taking it.

"Gerome." His voice is deep and raspy. Lucina thinks she heard the girls behind her sigh. "My transfer got delayed, which is why I arrived in the afternoon."

"No worries. You arrive just in time for an interesting English lesson." She smiles at him, and the corners of his lips flicker upwards.

Cynthia takes this moment to lean across Lucina's desk and introduce herself. "Hi! I'm Cynthia! Lucina's friend? I think your hair looks really amazing!"

She's loud enough that Miss Faulkner has to turn around and shush her. "Cynthia, if you could please sit up straight?"

Gerome frowns and snaps back to the front, ignoring the whispers around the class that bleed into the silence. Cynthia pouts, and Lucina rolls her eyes before pushing her friend back into her seat.

The taller girl whispers to her disappointed friend, "Class is more important than staring at someone you find attractive."

"Easy for you to say when you get to stare at your crush all class." Cynthia raises her eyebrows towards the teacher, and Lucina feels heat flood across her face.

Lucina snaps back. "She's not my crush."

"Uh-huh. Because you have a thing for her—"

To make things worse, Miss Faulkner turns back and tilts her head back at the embarrassed girl.

"Miss Flynn? Do you have a question about Priam's use of iambic pentameter?"

Lucina shakes her head. "No, Miss Faulkner. Please carry on."

"Good. Miss Baxter, could you please stop disturbing Lucina and take notes? There'll be a quiz at the end of the week about the different meters used in the first five stanzas of Priam's _The Radiant Hero_."

A heavy groan from the class answers her, and a chorus of protests rise up to which Miss Faulkner answers with a gentle smile and a clear, commanding explanation. Lucina glances to her left again only to see Gerome whip his head away again, a tinge of red on his cheeks. She doesn't have time to think about that particular detail when Cynthia jostles her elbow and gestures to her notes.

Funny how Lucina was doing that to her friend just a few moments earlier.

They leave English class with Cynthia pulling her down the nearest deserted hallway to talk about the new transfer student. Lucina glances back at the classroom and sees Gerome gazing after them, shifting his feet uncertainly before turning and heading down the opposite direction. She can't help but feel that Cynthia missed a chance there.

Cynthia finally finds an empty stairwell and opens her mouth partway when Lucina cuts in. "I'm worried about Severa."

The shorter girl rolls her eyes but manages a look of slight concern. "Relax, Lucina. She's always skipping. We'll probably see her sometime next week."

Lucina bites her lip. "Yes, but I'm worried about this particular day, because yesterday evening... I told her that I liked her."

Cynthia's eyes almost pop out of her head. "WHAT? Why didn't you tell me this yesterday?"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down."

"Sorry! Sorry!" Cynthia's bouncing with excitement. She looks genuinely exhilarated for her friend. "What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything. Just sat in her car and watched me leave."

"Tch, typical Severa. Always has to act cool." Cynthia frowns. "Wait, you think she's avoiding you because of that?"

"She may be." Lucina doesn't meet her gaze. There's fear twisting in her chest and nausea growing in her stomach. "Maybe she doesn't feel the same."

"Of course, she does! Have you seen how she looks at you?"

"...have you?"

"Well, no. But you're Lucina! She'd like you as a friend at the very least."

Lucina winces at the words. She knows Cynthia means well. "I'm hoping that she'll turn up to practice later, and then I can talk to her."

"And then you'll win her over by asking her on the best date of her life!"

Lucina smiles. "Here's hoping." She glances at a clock down the hallway from them. "We need to head to class. I'll tell you how it goes later?"

Cynthia pouts. "You'd better. I"m not ready to give up my best friend spot to Severa just yet."

"You'll always be my best friend." Lucina hugs her. "And of course. I'll keep you in the loop."

They part ways, and Lucina heads to her biology class that she shares with Severa though she doubts that she would show up. She's proven right when she arrives, and goes back to trying not to poke at the bundle of worry in her stomach.

The redhead doesn't show up until her scheduled training time with Lucina, and it's with clear relief that the soccer captain receives her scowling classmate.

"What are we doing today?" Severa says in lieu of a greeting.

"Good afternoon to you too," Lucina replies. "I wasn't sure if you were going to show up."

"Of course, I'm going to show up. I want to make the soccer team." Severa grumbles, pointedly looking away from Lucina. She's wearing longer black shorts that's not part of the team's uniform. They're still just as tight though. "So, let's get to it. What are we doing?"

"Dribbling." Lucina gestures to the field. "I've set up several rows of cones for you to weave around."

Severa arches an eyebrow. "Seriously? This is so dumb."

Lucina frowns. "Dribbling is a basic skillset. If you can master this, we can move on to more techniques."

"Fine." Severa steps up to the first cone in the leftmost row. She doesn't meet Lucina's eyes. "Let's get this over with."

They finish the practice with Lucina being reasonably satisfied with Severa's dribbling skills and giving her approval to work on new things the next day.

"You're much better than you give yourself credit for," Lucina says to Severa's grumbles that she knocked over too many cones. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd played before."

Severa jerks and turns around at that. She begins to leave the field. "Whatever. See you, Lucina."

"Severa!" Lucina steps forward to grab her arm without thinking. "There's something I would still like to talk about."

She receives an annoyed glare while Severa yanks her limb back. "We're already done practice."

"It's not about that."

Severa stops. She takes a long time to turn around. "Then, what is it about?"

"After you drove me home. I told you that—" Lucina feels her words slip out of her mouth. From the way her heart is beating, she might be the youngest person in the town's history to have a heart attack. "I like you. A lot more than a friend would."

"Oh, that." Severa rolls her eyes. "Great prank, Lucina, but it's kind of tasteless. I mean, you don't need to make fun of me like that."

Make fun of her? "Why would you think that?"

Severa just looks at her. "Because you're you, and I'm me. The thought of you liking me is a joke."

Lucina flinches. There's a tearing pain in her chest. "You think it's laughable that I might like you?" She blinks and is surprised to feel something wet in her eyes. "That my feelings are real?"

"You're a good actress." Severa tries to scoff, but there's a look of alarm on her face. "Hey, are you crying? That's practically cheating." There's something like guilt darting across her expression before anger overtakes it, and she snarls, "Look, I don't need your pity."

Pity? Is that what she thought it was?

Lucina shakes her head. "It's not pity. I just want to be friends."

"Clearly, you want to be more if what you said yesterday is anything to go by." Severa eyes her. It's not without some measure of appreciation. "But that's a terrible idea."

Lucina feels something in her chest drop to her feet. "Why?"

Severa makes an annoyed sound. "Are you being daft? Do you know what everyone says about me?"

"What does that have to do with me liking you?"

The redhead makes a noise of disgust. "Because people gossip in this stupid town, and I don't want them to gossip about you too!"

Lucina stares at her. "You care."

"Oh my gawd! Did you not understand me? About people whispering behind your back too?"

Lucina keeps her gaze on Severa. Her tone is soft. "I understand you perfectly." She touches Severa's hand gently. The redhead flinches but doesn't draw away. "Severa, I don't care what anyone says about me as long as I get to know you. And it's not going to ruin my reputation just to be seen with you."

"You clearly don't know what it's like here," Severa mutters. She doesn't draw away.

Lucina takes that as a chance to clasp her hand. "Maybe. But I do know that I would like to know you."

Severa closes her eyes. Her lashes flutter. Lucina feels a strong urge to kiss them. "No."

"...excuse me?"

Severa opens her eyes. "No, Lucina. Or was that too hard for you to understand? That people hate me in this damn town, and they love you. And that people say that I'm easy, I don't have morals, I'm bad luck, I'm going nowhere in life, I'm a terrible—"

Lucina loses her temper. Mostly because she's afraid of Severa going on. "I don't care! I just want to know you from you. Not whatever everyone says about you!"

Severa snarls. "So, what are you going to do when you do find out what I'm really like? That I'm just like everyone—"

"I'm going to find out the truth about you! And then, I'll decide!" She leans in, and she swears she sees Severa blush. "I'm not going anywhere until you give me a chance."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"We'll go somewhere nice after practice tomorrow!" Severa whips around and stalks off, which prompts Lucina to do the same.

They both storm away from the field, and it's not until she's a ways down the main road from the school that Lucina realizes that she's gotten the first date of her life by yelling at the girl she had a crush on.

She's completely doing this dating thing wrong.


	6. Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

Lucina spends an hour and a half getting Cynthia to help pick out her outfit for her date. They end up with Cynthia looking at her friend's wardrobe and shrugging helplessly with her hands up.

She flops onto Lucina's bed. "I guess dress like you normally do, and hope for the best?"

Lucina holds her face in her hands. "Are my clothes that bad?"

"No! Just...not date material. I think. I don't know." Cynthia rolls onto her stomach and huffs into Lucina's bedsheets. "The sweater with the silver cats is cute."

There's a knock on the door, and Morgan's voice calls out. "Hey, Mom's wondering if you and Cynthia want dinner."

Cynthia perks at the sound of his voice. "Oh! Morgan! Perfect timing! We need help!"

Lucina mouths a "No!" but Cynthia's already bounding to the door and tearing it open. Morgan stands there in a blue hoodie, looking confused. She grabs him by the wrist and drags him over to the wardrobe.

Cynthia gestures to the clothing in front of them. "Which outfit do you think makes your sister look hot?"

Morgan goes green while Lucina settles for a mortified mauve. Cynthia realizes what she said and quickly changes gear. "Oh! No, no, no, no, no! Not like that! I mean, for a date! Your sister has one tomorrow."

After the greenness dissipates, a look of triumph emerges on Morgan's face, and he crows, "I knew it! Who?"

Lucina looks away, the flush still on her face. "I'm not telling you."

Cynthia cuts in. "Severa Faulkner. Sorry, Lucina, but it's an emergency," she says after her friend gives her a betrayed look.

Morgan looks surprised before whistling in awe. "Oh, wow. Severa's hot. Kind of a...prickly person though. But really hot!"

Cynthia glances at him with disgust on her face. "Umm...do you and your sister purposefully forget the part where she's mean to everyone?"

"Well, she really isn't to me. Just really touchy, especially about her cooking." Morgan peers at his sister's wardrobe for a minute. "Umm...where are you guys going? That might help narrow down your options."

Lucina drops her face into her hands. "I don't know."

He suggests, "Maybe call her and find out?"

Morgan waits and looks at her expectantly before Cynthia coughs and elbows him. "Uh...I'll be eating dinner while you do."

"Yeah, I'll join him. Tell me what she says later!" Her friend herds herself and her brother out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Lucina stares at her phone for a long minute before she picks it up with slightly shaking hands and miscalls two people. When she finally does dial correctly, her heartbeat feels like it's trying to race out her throat.

Severa answers, sounding irritated. "I just talked to you two hours ago."

Lucina lets out a breath. "I know, but I wanted to apologize. For the way I treated you earlier. I shouldn't have yelled."

Severa is silent for a while before her voice comes out in a soft grumble. "No, that's okay. I can be stupidly stubborn sometimes." A pause. "Was that all?"

"No. I'm kind of having trouble finding clothes for...for our date tomorrow." Lucina sits down. Her legs are failing her. "What would you recommend?"

"Depends on where we're going. What did you have in mind?" Silence. "You did have a plan, right?"

Lucina chews her lip. "I do," she says, slowly. "I noticed that you're always so conscious about the clothes you wear, and you look really good in them. I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping tomorrow and maybe give me some tips."

"You're asking me to go shopping for a date?"

Oh no. She already messed up. "If you don't want to, we could always watch a movie or go for a walk somewhere."

A long pause. "No, it's fine. And we can use this as a good opportunity for us to get you some new clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?"

There's a snort on the other end of the line. "Your outfits look like a guy with no fashion sense picked them out sometimes."

Lucina supposes she may have to ask her father to stop buying her clothes.

"There's a new mall near Regna Ferox that I've been dying to check out for a while. We can go there after practice."

"That sounds great." Lucina tugs her fingers through her bangs. She's surprised to see them lightly tinged with sweat. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Bye, Lucina."

"Bye."

For something that lasted three minutes, it feels like it took 13 years off of Lucina's life.

She puts her phone away, takes several deep breaths, and makes her way downstairs. Cynthia and Morgan give her curious glances over the dinner table that are badly concealed if her mother's raised brow is any indication. She signals to Cynthia that she'll tell her later while pointedly ignoring her brother's impatient pokes to her ribs.

Her mother looks at all of them and sighs, putting down her utensils. "All right. What are you guys all hiding?"

"Nothing!" Lucina and Cynthia chorus simultaneously.

Morgan opens his mouth to answer but freezes under his sister's glare. He gives a weak shrug. "You know, school stuff. Homework."

Robin raises an eyebrow. "You do realize that I manage a school of 300 teenagers. I'm well aware of what most think of homework." She picks up her fork and resumes eating. "Now, if it were something else, that would make more sense."

"What could it be, Mrs. Flynn?" Cynthia pipes up, sounding overly cheerful. "We're all such wholesome students with nothing planned whatsoever!"

Lucina groans, internally. "Really, Mom, it's nothing. I'm just meeting a friend tomorrow, and I don't know what to wear."

"But why is your choice of clothing so important in that case?"

Morgan blurts, "Because Lucina's got a date!"

Lucina slams her palms on the table and stands up. "Morgan!" That blabbermouth! She looks at her mother and clears her throat. "It's not a date. I'm just hanging out with Severa tomorrow."

Robin raises the other eyebrow. "I see. I didn't realize that Severa has become so social lately. I should tell Cordelia about this. She'd be quite happy." She takes a bite of her chicken and waves her hand. "Have fun on your not-date, Lucina. Don't worry. I won't tell your father about this one."

Lucina contemplates whether it's possible to die of embarrassment. "It's really just hanging out to do some shopping." When her mother merely smiles at her, she excuses herself from the table with Cynthia and Morgan following shortly behind. They make it up to the second landing before Lucina whirls around on her brother, and Cynthia quickly steps between them.

Cynthia pushes Lucina backwards, "Hey, I know that was a jerk move on Morgan's part, but you don't really want to strangle your brother, do you?"

Lucina has to think about her answer.

"Oh, man. I'm so sorry." Morgan runs his hand through his hair. "But I couldn't keep it in. You have a date with one of the hottest girls in school, and I don't know how you even did that. Please teach me your secrets."

Lucina glares at him, but Cynthia cuts in before she can respond. "Apparently, yelling at people you like across a soccer field works wonders." She gestures to Lucina. "See exhibit A."

Morgan genuinely looks like he's taking mental notes, and Lucina has to step in. "Okay, none of this is helping. Morgan, in general, yelling at girls doesn't get you dates. You can do what I did, but I can't guarantee you that it will work and it's better to ask respectfully. Also, please don't tell anyone else about this."

Cynthia strikes a pose with her hands on her hips. "You don't have to worry about that! You've got some awesome friends who can keep your secret." She pauses. "Well, you don't have to worry about me anyway."

"Hey!" Morgan pauses. "Actually, I deserved that."

"Just please don't let this get out. I don't want Severa to have second thoughts."

"Well, if she does, I'm available as an option for her," Morgan volunteers. "Er...if it's okay with you, Sis," he adds hastily at Lucina's glare.

Cynthia clasps an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Let's get back to your room and craft our strategy for making Severa fall absolutely head over heels for you."

Morgan points out, "Not to be the party pooper, but I don't think anyone here is the expert on how to make any girl fall for us."

Oh Naga, he's right.

Lucina is so doomed.

Cynthia grins. "Hey, no problem. I've got a copy of Dusklight that we can watch for ideas." She pitches her voice low and raspy. "'I wanted to know how it felt to hunt. To taste human blood. All the men I killed were monsters. And so was I.'" She pokes her friend. "Isn't it such a great line?"

Lucina imagines that it wouldn't exactly sweep Severa off of her feet. "Umm...thanks, Cynthia, but I think I'll just talk to her as I've been doing."

"Fine. I find your approach boring, but I support you as your friend." Cynthia turns to Morgan, jabbing him hard in the chest. "And you, if one word of this slips past your lips starting tomorrow, I'm going to get on your case so hard that you're going to wish that all I'm going to do is knee you."

Morgan goes slightly pale. "Yeah, okay. That sounds good. Lips are sealed."

The two girls bid him goodnight and go upstairs to watch Dusklight, quickly realizing that using any of the romantic lines would be a bad idea.

"Just don't get cut on her edges?" Cynthia suggests while Lucina sighs and considers praying.

The next day at school is largely uneventful, save for Severa actually showing up to history class.

The irritated redhead rolls her eyes at Lucina's stare. "You act like it's shocking when I attend class."

Well...it is.

Severa pulls out a notebook with a blue cover. "Did you finish the reading on the Jugdral Crusades?"

"The one about the heroes who fought against the Lopto Empire and their child hunts?"

"Yeah, using their magical weapons given to them through a blood bond with a god." Severa snorts, "I swear if I didn't know any better, I'd think that we were studying mythology."

Lucina actually likes the story. "It's sort of romantic, isn't it? To believe that there are holy weapons blessed with the strength of something bigger than us? That we have heroes whose footsteps we can follow?"

"Yeah, but we live in the real world. That sort of stuff doesn't happen here." Severa lugs out her history textbook from her bag.

Lucina carefully checks her reply. She asks, "How did your essay go then?"

"It's done," Severa grumbles. "That's all I'll say about it."

There are students who are staring at Lucina and Severa talking with each other casually, and, honestly, the former doesn't blame them. Especially when Lucina can't seem to help herself with the way she touches Severa's hand to get her attention or when she leans in close to ask a question. Severa gives her a pointed look and gestures with a head jerk towards the whispering crowd in the back. Lucina couldn't care less.

After class ends, they make their way to the field to practice passing, which Severa still gripes about being too easy but goes through the drills anyway. They finish off their session a little early and make their way back to the lockers to change and wash.

Lucina's out from the shower first, because she realized her crush would be on the other side of the orange stall, naked and a few feet away. She waits outside the girls' locker room with her hands clench, and her heartbeat pounding harder than when she was just sprinting across on the field.

Inigo emerges from the gym down the hall and spots her. He smiles and makes his way over. "And to whom do I owe the pleasure of the chance to meet you here?"

"Oh, hello Inigo. I was just helping Severa through some soccer drills."

"Ah, so Severa is here too. How lucky. She's as adorable now as the first day I laid eyes on her. Though admittedly it's not the first word that comes to mind when describing her." He clears his throat. "Oh, where was I? Yes, I was just telling myself that your hair is deep as the night sky and just as lovely. And your beauty is only matched by your skill and knowledge in our science class."

Lucina stifles a laugh. She's not sure if he's hitting on her or asking for help with homework. "Our assignment is analyzing the pros and cons of human intervention to the environment of an ecosystem. It's due in two days."

"Er...thank you?" Inigo looks a little flustered. "This isn't going quite as planned."

Lucina smiles at him. "What are you doing here near the gym? I didn't know that you were into school sports."

"Not sports, per say, but I have a competition coming up that I need to practice for."

Lucina doesn't get to find out for what, because Severa comes out of the locker room with her hair damp and her bag over her shoulder. She scowls when she spots Inigo. "The flirting idiot. What do you want?"

Inigo gapes at her. "You look like a different woman without the pigtails. Doesn't she, Lucina?"

Severa looks remarkably like her mother with her hair down. Lucina hopes that Inigo has enough sense not to mention it.

"Beat it, Montoya. I didn't come to school to see your face today."

"It's a shame that you didn't, because seeing yours definitely made my day." He sighs, theatrically. "I was just about to ask lovely Lucina if she wouldn't mind coming for some tea with me. If she wasn't seeing anyone already."

Lucina hesitates. "As a matter of fact—"

"It's none of your goddamn business if she was," Severa snarls. "Get lost, Inigo. No one wants you around."

"Ah, Severa. Your bluntness is so refreshing sometimes." His eyes light up as if he's just thought of something. "Did anyone tell you that you're so fair and beautiful that I ask mercy for any who becomes a slave to your heart?"

"You should be asking mercy for yourself when I shove—"

Lucina drags her away after bidding a hasty goodbye to Inigo. "You weren't very nice to him," she comments when they reach the parking lot.

"He's the most irritating guy in school. Can't take a no if I club him over the head with one," Severa grouses. "And he hits on everything that moves."

"He's genuinely nice if you give him a chance," Lucina says while Severa snorts. "Just try, at least."

"You're asking a lot."

They make it to Severa's car, and the irritated driver tosses her bags into the backseat before getting in and putting on a pair of dark sunglasses.

Severa runs a hand through her wet hair. "Ugh, I forgot to bring a hairdryer. I look like a mess."

Lucina looks over the damp strands sticking to Severa's cheeks and forehead. "You still look beautiful. I wouldn't mind seeing your hair down more often."

"It's a hassle like this," the redhead argues, but she's not hiding the pleased smile on her face very well. "And it gets in the way." She doesn't move to tie it up again though.

Severa keeps the convertible hood down as they move onto the main tar road out of town, the wind blowing her hair back in a rippling stream of red like a banner. It fascinates Lucina. She blushes when Severa catches her staring at one point, tipping the sunglasses downwards to smirk at her. "See something you like?"

"All the time."

Severa clearly wasn't expecting that answer if the flush flooding across her cheeks is any indication. "Geez, I get it. Lay off on the corniness." When nothing is said between them for a few minutes, she gruffly ventures, "How is your family doing?"

"Morgan is studying the same level of math as me, and my parents are okay." She doesn't mention her extended family. "How is yours?"

"Dad is busy with the church, and trying to get enough donations like usual." Severa rolls her eyes. "Mother is the same as always. Gods, she's so strict sometimes. It's like she grew up in the army or something. She's constantly on my case to attend class more often, like she's Miss Perfect herself."

Lucina smiles, "I believe you said that was already my title."

"Yeah, well, you're more perfect than she is anyway," Severa says, blithely, as if she hadn't just made Lucina's heart-rate double in just nine words. "So, what kind of music do you listen to?"

Uh... "Jazz, sometimes, though I like folk music too. Morgan's been showing me some EDM he likes, and Cynthia's into pop from Chon'sin."

Severa scoffs, "Of course, she is."

"What about you?" Umm... "What do you think of the songs on the radio?" Lucina sighs at herself when she hears her question. Maybe she needs to borrow a book in the future on how to flirt.

"Whatever's good, I guess." Severa shifts, her skirt riding up on her thighs. She's wearing dark tights underneath, but Lucina is still trying hard to not look at anything below the neckline. She's not sure she's succeeding. "I don't think indie rock is terrible, but heavy metal is too...ugh, I can't even describe it."

"Uh-huh."

"The songs on the radio are okay," Severa continues, "but my taste in music is your face."

"Huh?" Lucina glances up, startled. "What do you mean?"

Severa smirks. "Just testing to see if you were paying attention. You were staring."

Lucina feels her face flush. "Your skirt is nice."

"Uh-huh."

They manage to get to Regna Ferox without any more blood flooding Lucina's face, much to her relief. The town is located further up in the mountains, and Lucina feels the first nip of winter's chill, despite summer having not officially ended. They drive past a large stone wall that almost feels like a barricade, passing by several fenced areas that expand over two blocks while men and women in dark uniforms congregate near unmarked concrete buildings. All in all, not the most favourable impression for young tourists.

"I forgot how cold it is up here." Severa gripes once they find the mall, which is a massive glass structure that looks more like a castle than a shopping centre. She ties her hair back into her twin tails and gets the convertible hood back up. "We can get some new coats too." She parks close to the entrance and grabs their jackets, tossing Lucina hers. She pulls out a black leather jacket that was folded neatly and tucked into the corner of the backseat, and pulls it on. There are creases deep into the material of the elbows and shoulders that suggest it's been worn for more than a decade, but it looks remarkably well cared for. "Hey, you're staring again."

"Oh. Your collar's up." Lucina moves to fix it, but Severa stops her.

"Sheesh, it's okay. You're not my mom."

That would make this date rather awkward in that case. "So, where in the mall do you want to go?"

Lucina discovers that the answer is apparently "everywhere." They walk from one end of the mall to the other with Severa peeking in boutiques and rejecting whole racks of clothing after a few seconds of flipping through their items. Lucina has to change her description of the mall from castle to cathedral when she stares in awe at the vaulting white walls and glass dome above them.

They pass by at least fourteen shops, and, in normal circumstances, Lucina would have least tried to protest that they would go in to take a look. However, in normal circumstances, Severa would not be holding onto Lucina's hand in a bid to drag her around faster. The taller girl's somehow too distracted to argue.

They finally stop at a store with bright white walls and a bored cashier with heavy eyeliner behind the counter. The clothing style looks unfamiliar, and as Lucina gingerly picks up a bafflingly long sweater dress, Severa pulls out a bundle of items from the racks and dumps them into her date's arms.

"Try these."

"All at once?"

Severa makes an impatient noise. "Fine. I'll hand you what you should wear together." She turns Lucina around and begins to steer her towards the dressing rooms. "Just get changed."

She passes her two outfits before nudging her into the empty room at the back of the store. One of the outfits is a dark dress with a scoop neck and sleeves that end halfway on her forearms, which Lucina doesn't mind. It's the fact that the bottom of the dress doesn't even make it halfway down her thighs that is more of an issue.

"Severa, I'm not really sure about the length."

"Well, open the door and let me see."

Lucina hesitates for a moment before opening the door and letting her crush in. Severa glances her over with an appraising look. "Not bad, but you're clearly not comfortable. Try the other one."

The other one takes Lucina a better part of ten minutes to get into. Mostly because of the leather pants.

When Lucina steps out, Severa looks her over. Twice. Her eyes have trouble leaving Lucina's legs. "Umm...wow. Okay, that looks really good on you." She coughs and looks away. "How does it feel?"

"Stiff." Lucina shifts in her dark jacket, the inside lining made of a white faux fur that contrasts the black shirt underneath, which Severa insisted that she tucked into her pants. "I don't think I'm a fan of leather pants."

"That's a shame." Severa turns around and grabs a handful of dark material. She shoves it into Lucina's arms without looking at her. "Try these jeans instead."

The jeans are only slightly less tight than the leather pants, but Lucina slips into them much quicker. She steps out in them, and Severa frowns. "It's missing something." Her hand pulls her sunglasses out of her bag and slips them onto a startled Lucina's face. "And your hair should look a little messy for that bad girl look." She steps close and begins tousling the dark blue locks. Lucina knows that she should say something about Severa running her fingers through her hair without asking first, but she's rather enjoying the sensation.

Severa steps back, and she evaluates her work. She's gawking slightly.

Lucina grins. "Has something caught your eye?"

The redhead flushes and snaps, "Excuse you. I'll have you know that you only have that outfit, because I helped put it together."

"So, you like it then?"

"Shut up."

Lucina takes that as an affirmative and hands Severa back her sunglasses. She changes and carefully puts the outfit into the 'yes' pile. Anything that leaves the normally sharp-tongued Severa speechless is a plus in her book.

She ends up going through enough clothing that her reject pile fills an entire rack by itself. She temporarily stops Severa's rampage with an appreciation for an outfit that consists of a long cardigan with frayed tassels, a black-and-white striped shirt with a low cut, and ripped jeans. Severa tosses on several dangling golden necklaces and pronounces the ensemble passable, which Lucina happily accepts.

Five more outfits later, Severa sighs and crosses her arms, leaning on the door frame to the open dressing room. "You even look amazing in men's dress shirts. It's so unfair."

...she was wearing a men's dress shirt? Lucina looks down and realizes that the last three buttons of her top are done incorrectly. "I would like to blame this on being overwhelmed."

Severa makes an impatient noise and moves in close. The redhead's fingers deftly fixes the buttons, straightens out a crooked collar, and smoothes away Lucina's messy strands from her jaw. Lucina bites down on her lip whenever Severa's fingertips brush her cheeks and jawline. She's distracted by the tangling sensation building in her belly.

"You look so good in everything, it's ridiculous. You're the right height, have a great frame for clothing, and your complexion is amazing," Severa sighs. "And it helps that you're drop-dead gorgeous too."

Lucina blinks. The flutter in her stomach has become a storm. "Huh?" she replies, intelligently.

The redhead gives her a look. "Umm...hello? Do you ever, like, look in a mirror? You could practically be a model." Her hands trail down Lucina's sides and lands lightly on her hips, causing the flustered girl's breath to catch. "I would kill for measurements like these."

"Uh..." Lucina has trouble thinking, especially when they're in a room barely big enough to fit the two of them, and Severa is close enough to kiss. "So, you like this one then?"

Severa blinks as if startled and moves away, dropping her hands. Lucina misses the contact. "Yeah, it's a step up from what you were wearing when we came in. I picked it after all."

"Then, I'll take it," Lucina says, a little breathlessly.

"You didn't even check the price."

"If it's you, you probably already thought of it."

Severa flushes. "Well, yeah. Whatever. Let's just take them."

"Wait, what about you? Aren't you going to buy anything?"

"I already did with the amount of time you took changing between clothes." She hefts three shopping bags onto her shoulder. She lifts an eyebrow at the pile in one corner of Lucina's room. "Need a hand?"

They haul the catch of clothing to the cashier, and they exit the store with six shopping bags in tow. The pair make their way back down to the mall entrance into the parking lot and back to Severa's car where they place the bags in her backseat before the redhead suddenly throws her hands up and snarls. "Stop smiling!"

"Huh?"

"You've had that stupid grin on your face ever since we left the dressing rooms. It's getting creepy."

Oh. Lucina hadn't realized that she had it the entire time. "I can't help it when I heard you call me gorgeous twenty minutes ago."

"Compliments go to your head, huh?" Severa grouses.

"Only if they're from you," Lucina says, softly to which her date has no response.

They make their drive back down the mountainous path in easy chatter until Severa's car decides to die a few kilometres from Ylissetol.

"Oh my gods." Severa cranks her engine, and turns on her wipers for some reason. When nothing happens, she swears and storms out of the car to open up its hood. "Stupid thing died in flight."

Lucina watches her. She gets out of the convertible to see if she can help. "What's wrong?"

Severa straightens up. "Well, the engine and the wipers aren't working, which is not a good sign. I'm going to hope that my fuel gauge was just stuck, which means we might just be out of gas. I need to test the air intake boot, open the throttle plate, and spray some starting fluid into the intake before trying the engine again."

None of that made any sense to Lucina. "Do you need me to get something for you?"

"Yeah, just go into my trunk, grab the starting fluid and a ratchet extender. Thanks." Severa's already leaning back down. When Lucina continues to stand there, she looks back up and sighs. "Get the blue bottle and the grey toolbox."

Better. Lucina understands colours. "I'll be right back."

She pops the trunk, grabbing the container and the box before returning to Severa and passing it to her. She watches her quickly inserts a slender metal tool into a tiny metal cylinder that she called a socket, which she pops into a hole in a cover that reminds Lucina of a black, plastic liver. There's some disassembling next, and Severa spraying some of the fluid from the bottle into what looks like a giant hose. Lucina admits to herself that she's completely lost and spends the next couple of minutes watching Severa as she works.

There's a slight furrow between the redhead's brows as she deftly manipulates the various parts of her car, sweat rolling down her skin in the heat of summer's last days. Her movements are clearly practiced, and Severa is so focused, she doesn't appear to notice the grime on her hands from the car parts. Lucina frowns at the sight, because the girl she knew when they were friends hated mud and dirt, and would frequently complain to her whenever some adventure of theirs ended up getting her clothes torn. This Severa doesn't seem to care. Lucina starts to wonder how much she knows about her at all now.

"Where did you learn how to fix a car like this?"

Severa grunts. "My neighbour is obsessed with cars. He's always dragging me over to show off his engine or something, and I just learned it was easier to try and pay attention than escape." She replaces the cover and her tool back into the grey box. "Guess he rubbed off on me more than I thought." She looks at Lucina and shifts uncomfortably. "It's pretty stupid, isn't it? It's gross and ugly, and most girls don't do this—"

Lucina cuts in. "I think it's really cool." And strangely very attractive. "I always imagine that you wouldn't like handling all of that oil and grease."

"I hate them, but sometimes, you just have to deal with it," Severa grumbles. She closes her hood and makes her way back to the driver side door but stops when she notices the grime on her fingers. "Ugh. Can you start the engine for me? Just turn the key in the ignition."

Lucing gets in and follows her instructions. There's a popping sound from the car that really doesn't sound good. "Er...did I break something?"

Severa rolls her eyes. "No, that sound just means that it's definitely out of fuel. I've got a spare bottle for emergencies where I keep my tools."

"I'll get it." Lucina hops out of the convertible and grabs a slim grey bottle from the trunk. She pours the contents into the gas tank as directed.

Severa eyes the empty bottle before replacing the cap on her gas tank and closing the metal flap. "That should be enough to get us to town." She scowls and looks away from Lucina. "Sorry. For this ridiculous mess."

"Don't be. I like spending time with you. Even if we're just stranded on the side of the road." Lucina gazes at Severa with fondness. "It's how we started talking again after all."

Severa glances sharply at her. She doesn't respond to Lucina's last comment. "Yeah, well, thanks for helping." She flinches when she looks at her hands. "This is so gross."

"Hang on. I still have a towel from practice earlier." Lucina digs around in her bag and fishes out a still slightly damp cloth. Instead of handing it over, she begins to clean Severa's hands.

Severa flushes. "I can do that myself."

"Yes, but you fixed the car. I can at least repay you for not getting us stuck here by helping with this."

"Yeah, but you're getting your towel dirty." Severa scowls. "Give it to me. I'll wash it for you. I owe you one."

"What? No. You don't owe me anything." Lucina wipes off the last of the grime and bunches up the towel to throw it into her bag. "Is it that difficult to believe that I might want to do something for you, because I want to?"

Severa turns red. "Fine! Wash your own damn towel. Sheesh." She grumbles and gets back into the car. "A girl can't offer to help without getting her head bitten off around here."

Lucina contemplates pointing out the irony that Severa of all people said that. She says instead, "Is your car going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to get everything checked when we get back." Severa pats the passenger seat. "C'mon, we don't have all day."

The sun is setting by the time Severa drops Lucina off at her house. Some of the other students loiter on the streets on their way there and wave to Lucina before confusion takes over their face at the sight of the girl beside her.

"Great. You'll have gossip about you the moment you step out of your car. Welcome to my life," Severa grumbles.

She helps Lucina carry her shopping bags to the door, and both of them stand awkwardly on the white doorstep, not sure what to do.

Lucina says after a long stretch of silence, "I enjoyed shopping with you." She probably can't afford to do it again for another two months though.

"That's cause you've got a couple of brand new outfits out of it," Severa scoffs, but her tone lacks its usual bite. "So...umm...yeah, it wasn't terrible hanging out with you."

High praise coming from Severa.

She continues on, flipping one of her twin tails over her shoulder. "So, we should do this again tomorrow. I'm free." She tilts her chin up defiantly, but there's a tremble in her jaw that gives her away.

Lucina smiles. "I'd love that." Without thinking, she leans down towards Severa...

...and the redhead pushes her back. She's surprisingly gentle. "I'm not easy, you know."

"Oh! I didn't mean to imply that you were." Lucina's ears could incinerate themselves with how hot they feel. "I was just—"

"Hoping to end the first date with a bang?" Severa asks. She flushes when she realizes what she's said. "Not like that! I mean, gawds, all we did was shop and—you're not getting that either."

"I wasn't thinking of it." Lucina gathers Severa's hands in hers. Her knees feel like they are about to give out on her. "So, was this the best date of your life?"

Severa snorts. "There's not much competition for the title."

"I see. I hope that you'll give me the chance to change that then."

"Gods, you say the corniest things sometimes." Severa scoffs and looks away. Her tone is soft. "But I don't mind."

Lucina watches Severa and reaches out to tuck a stray lock of red hair behind one ear. "Okay. Talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, goodnight." Severa drops her hands and begins to walk away. She comes back after a few moments and deposits a kiss on Lucina's cheek. "Thought I'd at least give you that. For last time." She makes her way to the car like she couldn't care less about what she just did. Her tires squealing as she peels out of Lucina's driveway suggest otherwise.

Lucina spends the next twenty minutes standing on her doorstep. She thinks she might be in love.


	7. Black Holes and Revelations

Lucina wears the set of clothing that left Severa speechless to school the next day, and she's baffled by the surge of attention she's getting from everyone. Her mother looked startled that morning when Lucina appeared in the kitchen, and she complimented her daughter on how well put-together she looked. Morgan didn't notice a difference, and Cynthia's eyes went wide when they saw her walk into the school.

"Oh my god. You look so cool now."

"Thank you." Lucina smoothes out her blouse before she thinks about her friend's comment. "Wait, now?"

Cynthia dodges the question. "Are those the clothes that Severa picked out for you?"

"Yeah. They're from a Chon'sin shop in the new mall I was telling you about yesterday." She picks at the fabric of her jacket, ignoring the flutter in her stomach. "Severa said they would look good."

"Well, she's right." Cynthia whistles. "One date, and she's already dressing you. You're kind of whipped, friend."

"I asked her for the assistance," Lucina protests.

"Uh-huh. Did some of this help involve getting close to readjust your clothes?"

Lucina's face feels like it's on fire, and Cynthia bursts into laughter. "You've got it bad! So bad." She leans in close, a mischievous smile on her face. "Did you two kiss? You didn't tell me last night."

Lucina had called Cynthia yesterday to relay her date once she had hauled her new clothes to her room. She shared most of everything that happened but had to cut their conversation short, because Morgan popped his head into her room and started badgering her for details. Even worse, their mother also asked a few questions about her "non-date" during dinner, and Lucina ended up throwing herself into her schoolwork for the rest of the night if only to give everyone an excuse not to bother her.

"Hey, Earth to Lucina? Did you space out daydreaming about your hot date?"

"I was not!" The startled girl doesn't mean to snap, and she blushes at her lack of composure. "And no, we didn't kiss."

"That's terrible! She left my best friend hanging!" Cynthia thumps a fist into her open palm. "We're going to have to change our strategy if she's playing hard to get."

"We are not doing anything of the sort." Lucina tears open her locker and shoves her books into her bag. "And I don't mind, really." She glances sidelong at her best friend. "She wants to go out again today."

"She asked you? Wow, you got her—hook, line, and sinker!" Cynthia cheers.

Lucina shushes her, glancing around the hallway. Laurent is reading a physics book a few lockers down from them. He raises an eyebrow in their direction from the commotion. She grabs Cynthia and begins to walk down the hall. "Let's just head to class."

They enter their chemistry classroom early enough that there are only a few students seated. Nah waves to them from the front row as they make their way to their seats, and a look of surprise crosses her face. "Wow, Lucina. That looks really sharp on you. Where'd you get it?"

"In Regna Ferox. Severa helped me pick it out."

Nah sounds skeptical. "Severa Faulkner helped you?"

"She's got a good eye for fashion."

"And possible girlfriends," Cynthia says under her breath.

Lucina feels her face flare up and shushes her friend. A few seconds later, the topic of their conversation walks into the classroom with Noire. She lifts her eyebrows at their combined staring. "What?"

Nah frowns. "Just surprised. That's two days in a row you've showed up to class. Are you all right, Severa?"

"Shove it, Hakuryu." Severa slips past the smaller girl sitting in the front row, pausing only to glance over Lucina. She ends up staring long enough that Cynthia snickers into her hand and Nah gives her a questioning look before Severa regains her composure, slipping on a smirk that has Lucina melting embarrassingly fast. "Told you that looked great on you."

"Thank you." Lucina watches her and Noire settle into the second row while the latter gives her a shy smile. She realizes that she should check on her progress and heads over to the dark-haired girl, sitting down in the empty seat in front of her. "Hi Noire, how's your training going?"

"Oh! Um...it's going." She sniffles and brings out a tissue from her pocket. "I just got a little sick from the practice with Kjelle a couple of days ago."

The soccer team's goalie told Lucina that she made Noire run around the gym. Once.

"I see. Do you think that you will get better soon?"

"I hope so! I don't want to hold anyone back because I'm sick." Noire glances at her friend beside her. "Especially Severa."

Lucina softens. She's starting to see why they hang out together so often. "Well, maybe it would help if you join Severa and I in practice?"

Severa slams her textbook down and glares at her. Lucina's taken back and wonders what she did wrong. "Is something the matter?"

"Nope. Nothing at all." The redhead bites out the words. "It's not like my opinion matters."

What? "Severa—"

Noire glances between the two of them nervously. "N-no thanks! It's a kind offer, but Kjelle's doing a good job so far."

Lucina frowns and shifts in her seat. Severa's no longer making eye contact with her, and the soccer captain can't help but feel frustrated at how that conversation went. "I see. Well, I'll pass your comments to her, and if you need help with anything, please feel free to ask me."

Noire lets out a small smile. "Thanks, Lucina. I appreciate that." She tucks her hair behind her ear. "I hope Severa isn't being too difficult for you."

At that, her friend shoots her a wounded look. "Me? I'm never difficult."

From up a row, Cynthia snorts and Nah rolls her eyes.

Lucina responds before Severa can pick a fight with either of them. "Not at all. She's showing a lot of promise in her sessions. I have confidence in her ability to pass the trials coming up in two weeks."

Noire drops her eyes. "Do you think I could pass?"

Severa breaks in before Lucina can answer. "Noire, if you really want to, you will. You're so smart that it'd be stupid not to have you on the team." She stares at Lucina. "Right?"

"There may be an opening for a coach's assistant if we ask your mother about it," Lucina says to Severa, ignoring her flinch. "But we'll see. Noire, regardless of what happens, I'll help you. I think, at this point, you're my friend too."

A light comes on in Noire's eyes, and she looks at Lucina with such vulnerability that it touches her. "Thank you. You don't know what that means to me," she says, quietly.

Lucina smiles in response and glances at Severa, who's staring at her with an expression like she's seeing her for the first time. "Is something the matter?"

Severa takes a few seconds to process the question and shakes her head in response. Before Lucina can press her on her reaction, Mrs. Clearwater walks in and gestures them for all of them to sit. Lucina joins Cynthia, despite wanting to sit near Severa. She would feel bad about leaving her friend there under the scrutinizing gaze of the science teacher, especially because it was Lucina who convinced her to sit in the front initially.

Cynthia passes her a note when the teacher's back is turned to the class as the focused woman rapidly writes a few formulas on the whiteboard. Lucina glances at the note, which is a messily scrawled "Smooooooth." She rolls her eyes while her best friend grins at her.

She heads to math next with Cynthia bidding her goodbye before skipping to drama class. As she turns to walk down the hallway, she feels someone gently bump into her, and Lucina's surprised when it's Severa who walks beside her, shoulder brushing against her arm.

"Hi." Lucina's tongue feels thick all of a sudden. "Did you want to talk about something?"

"Like how we only have one science teacher in the whole school?" Severa scoffs before she winces and glances away for a moment. "Yeah, actually, I did. That was really nice. What you said to Noire."

"Was it?" Lucina's slightly puzzled. She was just being honest.

"Yeah, not everyone treats her like you did, which pisses me off, because being mean to Noire is like being mean to a puppy!" Severa seems to realize what she says and stiffens in response. "But you probably don't want to hear me whine about that stuff. Sorry."

Lucina frowns. "Don't be. I like hearing how much you care about your friends."

Severa stumbles and nearly walks into an open door. "Gods, the architectural layout of this school is awful!" She scratches at the corner of her jaw, a flush across her face before she starts scowling. "And whatever, Lucina. You don't have to be so mushy sometimes."

She...wasn't?

"Anyway," Severa glances at her, chin tilted slightly upwards, "Please don't invite Noire again to train with us."

Lucina is baffled. "But why? I thought you would appreciate training with her."

"It's not about that." Severa looks away. "I just..." A myriad of emotions comes across her face from uncertainty to fear before settling on anger—anger, because that's the emotion she seems most comfortable dealing with. She blows past Lucina and heads towards their math classroom down the hall. "Forget it. Talk to you later."

Lucina has no idea what she did to conjure such ire.

Severa doesn't talk to her during class, and Lucina can only speculate what the silent girl is mad about. When the bell rings to signal the end of class and the beginning of lunch, Severa's out the door before Lucina can stand up in her seat. Resigned, she sighs and begins to walk towards the cafeteria where her friends would be waiting when Laurent pops his head out from a nearby class and gestures for her to come in.

Curious, Lucina follows him into an empty classroom, and the normally quiet boy closes the door behind them. "I'm sorry to have called you here like this, but I thought I would be the bearer of bad news in a more private area. Before I deliver this message, I would like to inquire about the nature of your relationship with Severa Faulkner."

Huh? "She requested to join the soccer team, and I agreed to help her train for the trials. And we're friends." Sort of.

"I see. That's admirable." Laurent adjusts his glasses. "Unfortunately, because of your association with Severa, whom many of our members consider a delinquent, we have to discontinue your membership in the Biology Club for fear of being seen as tolerant to her actions."

...she was in the Biology Club?

"Wait. What do you mean by delinquent? And when did I join the Biology Club?"

"Ah, we made you an honorary member last year due to your consistent outstanding performance in the sciences," Laurent elaborates. "It seems we forgot to inform you about it, as you were recuperating in the hospital at the time from a concussion gained in a sports match." He pushes up his glasses. "As for the delinquency, Severa has shown a history of squabbling with our members, and has caused one student to transfer schools after they had a disagreement and she broke his nose."

Lucina remembers that. It fuelled the school gossip machine for several days. "I"m sure she had a good reason for it."

"Perhaps, but as facts go, she has caused us the loss of one promising member. Consequently, we have decided that we do not wish to have any ties to her."

Lucina's flabbergasted. "Do you feel that way towards her, Laurent?"

"I..." His expression falters slightly. "I am impartial to Severa as a person, but as the president of the Biology Club, the responsibility falls to me to take actions that reflect the feelings of the club as a whole. I am sorry, Lucina, but this is what was requested. However, should the situation change between you two, please feel free to rejoin our club." He goes to open the door for her.

Lucina thinks about telling him that she wasn't technically in the club in the first place. Instead, she thanks Laurent for telling her about the membership and leaves the classroom. On her way down to the cafeteria, she is told by at least six other clubs that she's no longer a member of them, despite not remembering having joined any of them. How many concussions was she recovering from last year?

She meets up with Cynthia and Kjelle in the lunchroom, feeling quite puzzled. "I've just had the oddest experience."

Kjelle looks up from her meal. "People kicking you out of their clubs, because you've been hanging out with Severa?" She pauses and looks over Lucina. She whistles. "Well, damn. Who are you trying to get laid by?"

"Anyway! Weird experiences!" Cynthia chimes in, "We've been asked all day about what you're doing with her. Apparently, training her to join the soccer team is not a juicy enough answer, so they're saying that you're planning some kind of huge drag race with her and she's pulling you into it."

That's...interesting. "What else are people saying?"

Cynthia replies, "Uh...that she's the head of a secret crime gang, and you're her number two. She's cast a spell on you with Noire's help. Oh, and she's totally seducing you into doing her will." She drops her voice, so that only Lucina can hear her. "Which isn't totally untrue."

Lucina swears that Cynthia's going to be the death of her. "All ridiculous rumours."

"Which is what I said too." Kjelle sits up. She's keeping her gaze steady between her two teammates and the odd interaction they just had. "But they're going to keep building until you give them an answer. So, what's going on with the gossip magnet and you?"

Lucina's stomach drops to her feet, because she doesn't quite know. "She's a prospective teammate."

Kjelle raises an eyebrow. "And that's why people have been seeing you two outside of school?"

"She's just an old friend that I started talking to again. Sometimes, it's feels like we never drifted apart."

Kjelle frowns. "You say that, but do you really know her anymore?"

Cynthia glances between the two before clasping an arm around Kjelle's shoulders. She begins steering her towards a lone figure sitting against the far side of the cafeteria. "Hey, have you met Gerome yet? He's the new guy that transferred a few days ago. Super dreamy."

Kjelle protests, "But I wasn't finished—"

"Hottie alert. C'mon, Kjelle." She casts a glance over at Lucina who mouths a "thank you." Cynthia gives up a thumbs in return. "You gotta be my wing-woman on this."

Lucina feels sick and no longer hungry. She escapes the cafeteria and her sudden awareness of the eyes on her as she leaves. Unable to think of where else to go, she makes her way to the library located on the other side of the school. It's a little busier in there due to the lunch hour, but there's hardly clumps of students milling about its corridors or its two levels. Whoever designed the school clearly loved books if the fact that the library has its own building is any indication.

The librarian waves at her, munching on a snack as always. "Good to see you, Lucina. We got some new books donated in the history section if you want to see them."

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Greenheart. I'll check them out." She makes her way over to that section and nearby bumps into a girl on her cell phone. She's about to apologize when she hears Severa's name being whispered by her and unconsciously leans in to listen.

"Yeah, she's all the talk of the school again. No, I haven't met her, but she doesn't look friendly. She's supposed to be bad luck, and she's got, like, two moms or something. Hmmm...she found the nephew of the sheriff in the river. I heard that his throat was cut out, and she's part of this gang going around kidnapping children—"

Lucina can't stand to hear anymore. "That's enough."

A girl hardly older than Morgan squeaks when she hears Lucina's voice. She nearly drops her phone. "Were you listening in?" She pales when she gets a good look at Lucina's face. "Oh."

"It's rude of me to eavesdrop, but the library is not a place to talk badly of someone else." Or any place. "Who were you talking to?"

"My cousin in Valm." She tries to jut her chin up in defiance, but her knees are shaking. "It's a free country. I can say anything I want." Her voice warbles.

"Gossip and slander are not things to be proud of spreading." Lucina peers at the girl and realizes that she doesn't recognize her. "Why all the interest in Severa Faulkner though?"

The girl twists a strand of mousy brown hair around her finger. "Well, she's bad luck, isn't she? She found your cousin by the river. Rumours say that she curses everyone who talks to her."

Lucina feels as if she's been punched in the stomach. "I see. Thank you. For the record, none of those things are true." She steps aside, and the girl shoots past her, racing towards the exit. When she hears the retreating footsteps, Lucina sighs and sags against a shelf, her forehead resting on a worn copy of "The History of Akaneia."

Of course, Owain is going to come up when people are talking about Severa, and Lucina would be foolish and naive to be believe that they wouldn't. She doesn't want to keep hearing about him from people who were never there, continue being prodded by the relentless stream of questions about if certain details were true. Worse still, a lot of the things people were asking about were true like the gash found across Owain's throat or the bruises on his arms. The questions that haunts her are the ones she doesn't have answers to, like how—for all of the exemplary officers on the case—the investigation never found how he got abducted that morning. And why her father wasn't on the case.

How the hell could they not find anything? Just...

"Are you all right?" Mr. Greenheart's concerned face comes into view, his hand on her shoulder. "I called you several times, and you didn't respond."

"I'm fine." Lucina closes her eyes. There's a headache forming behind them. "What did you call me for?"

"The warning bell's rung, and you've got less than ten minutes to get to your next class."

She lets out a long breath. "Thank you for letting me know." She bids goodbye to him and leaves the library, cutting through the grass to reach the door closest to Miss Faulkner's classroom. She makes it with a minute to spare.

Cynthia waves her down. There's a pout on her face, and Lucina takes it that her attempt to pick up Gerome did not go as planned. Lucina makes her way to her spot before noticing that said boy on her left is staring at her with something like concern.

She sits down, gesturing to a sulking Cynthia that she'll respond her later before turning to ask him, "Is something the matter?"

His brows furrow, and the line of his mouth flattens out. "You look troubled. Has something happened?"

Lucina blinks in surprise before shaking her head. "Not at all. Thank you for asking. How have you found our town so far?"

"Uneventful." Gerome frowns. "There's something you're not saying." He shifts, looking worried before sighing. The collar of his shirt is slightly open, and Lucina can see the hollow of his throat and the start of the indentation of his collarbone. "But I see that it's not something you want to share right now. Should you need a willing ear in the future, I would be open to lending it." He looks away, seeming uncomfortable and having exhausted his supply of words for the day.

Lucina's touched, but before she can respond, her elbow is jostled by Cynthia on her other side who passes her a note in a huff. On a torn sheet of paper in a messy blue scrawl are the words, "You're not allowed to date both Severa and Gerome." Lucina quickly fires off a reply that she's not and shuffles the paper onto Cynthia's desk before Miss Faulkner enters the room, her movements a little slower and more languid than normal. She sets them on their quiz about the different metres in _The Radiant Hero_ , but there's something tense about the line of her jaw, the narrowing of her eyes. If Lucina wasn't already familiar with that look in Severa, she could miss it altogether. There's something that Miss Faulkner is worried and angry about that she's trying to hide. Lucina wonders if it's a good idea to ask Severa about what's bothering her mother. When they finish their quiz, they continue reading the rest of Priam's poem, and when Miss Faulkner's back is turned to the class, Cynthia slips Lucina notes, detailing all of the reasons about why Kjelle is a terrible wing-woman.

At last, the bell rings, signalling the end of class, and Cynthia wrings a promise from Lucina to chat later before they part for their respective classes. Gerome, however, waits for her by the entrance of the room and offers to walk her to wherever she's heading next. Lucina's surprised but she accepts his offer. She says, "I hope that everyone has been welcoming to you so far."

"Some are far too welcoming," he grunts, walking around a cluster of girls who are gawking at him. He sticks close to her when several of them reach out to touch his shirt. "It's as if they have no concept of personal space."

"It's not often we get a transfer student, so it's not that surprising that they're interested in you." Aside from other reasons, which Cynthia is too happy to share with her. "What made your family want to move here?"

He shifts his books from one hand to another. "My mother found a job here, so we all moved. I supposed it's not a bad town for some quiet." He goes silent for so long that they reach Lucina's biology class.

She turns to him. "Well, I'm glad to hear that you're starting to get settled here. I suppose that someone from a more urban area might find Ylissetol boring, but I like it here. It feels very safe."

She's about to thank him for walking her here when Gerome stops her, his eyes dark. He says, "Given what I've heard about here, I would say that's not true."

Lucina feels her breath stolen from her. A surge of heat rises through her chest, and it takes her a moment to recognize that she's angry. She focuses on taking a breath before responding. "What do you mean by that?"

Gerome peers at her. There's a surprising sadness in his eyes. "Do you really think that any town can stay safe forever?" Before she can respond, he leans in, close enough that his breath brushes her ear. "If you ever feel that you require a friend you can trust, please come talk to me, Lucina." He looks like he wants to say more but stops himself and walks away, glancing back at her with an unreadable expression.

Lucina's torn between going after him and demanding him to elaborate, and heading into class. She tussles with the decision before she shakes her head and slips into her classroom, adding the need to question Gerome to her mental pile that has been growing this odd day.

Severa doesn't talk to her during class, which doesn't surprise her. She can't but feel a little lonely that the person she wants to talk to has turned into a wall. On her other side is Inigo, who seems to have caught onto her mood, frowning at her expressions and trying to get her to smile to point where he physically attempted do so. It ends up with both of them getting ejected from the class for "disruptive behaviour", awkwardly standing outside the doors with Inigo giving her an apologetic smile while Lucina glares at him. The chatter of the students on the other side of the wall does not help, and Lucina finds herself grinding her teeth together at the unfairness of it all.

Ten minutes later, Mrs. Clearwater comes out to address them both. With one hand on the side of her glasses, she glances at Lucina and Inigo. "I am surprised at this sudden and unexpected behaviour, and while Mr. Montoya has shown a history of, shall we say, being over-enthusiasm in the classroom, you do not, Miss Flynn. I hope there will not be a repeat performance in the future, otherwise an immediate separation shall be necessary."

Lucina glances at her feet. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Clearwater. I don't know why I lost my temper."

Something softens around the teacher's eyes, and she nods in acknowledgement. She gestures for Inigo to return to the classroom before turning her attention back to Lucina, She continues in a softer tone. "It has reached staff attention that rumours regarding your deceased cousin have started up again in these hallways, and I understand that it can cause great distress and a loss in concentration in your studies. Therefore, I will propose to the other staff members that we take a no tolerance stance to the circulation of frivolous conjecture immediately once this class has ended."

Lucina takes a moment to digest what she said. "So, you'll be putting a stop to the gossip?"

"Absolutely. Hypotheses without a basis in fact is mere speculation." The frowning woman pushes up her glasses. "Not only that, but it appears that you are not the only student involved. Miss Faulkner has been a frequent target for misguided and fallacious inferences, and staff members have often attempted to eradicate these rumours in the past. Clearly, we have not succeeded with the way they have been resurfacing." She closes her eyes and looks like she has a headache. "It is a failing on us as teachers if we cannot protect our students from each other." Her eyes open again, and Lucina's startled to see something flaring in her gaze, different from her usual cold study. "I do not know the state of your relationship with Miss Faulkner, but I would urge you to continue it. It seems to be proving beneficial to her."

"It is to me, too," Lucina replies quietly, feeling something warm flood her belly at the thought.

Mrs. Clearwater considers her for so long that Lucina starts to feel like a butterfly caught under glass when the science teacher nods in approval. "Do be persistent. Miss Faulkner has a history of being dogged in her opinions, but she is not one for denying truths as they are." She opens the door for both of them to return. Just as Lucina passes the threshold, she whispers to her, "The winning of affection can be arduous, but much can be gained from it. I wish you luck, Miss Flynn." She gives her a small smile before turning to the class to get their attention.

It takes Lucina a few moments to remember that her legs work before she walks to her seat in a daze. She's not sure what happened, but she thinks she just got dating advice from Laurent's mother.

Severa glances up at her when Lucina sits down before the irritated girl huffs softly, looking out the window for the rest of the class. She's frowning at something intangible in the distance and tapping her fingers along her desk, and as much as it pains Lucina, she thinks that the silent girl just wants some space. Inigo has been oddly silent since their brief expulsion, and Lucina almost misses his chatter. She draws her attention to her assignment, and it's almost with relief that she breaks away from the world, even for a little bit.

After classes, she meets Severa to work on dribbling and passing to ensure that they've gotten the basics down firmly. Soccer practice is silent for the most part.

It's Severa who breaks the atmosphere with a sigh after catching a pass. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Usually by this point, you're trying to get me to hang out with you or talk my head off, but you've been quiet and broody all afternoon. You didn't even notice me looking at you all biology class, and you're usually all over stuff like that." Severa shifts, her eyes on the ground. "If this is about what I said earlier, that wasn't really about you."

Really? "Then, what was it about?"

Severa crosses her arms and scowls. Her cheeks match her hair. "I just...I just don't like sharing you with anyone else when it can be just us."

Lucina is stunned. "That's the most forthright I've heard you been all week."

"Hey! I'm trying here! And Noire might have helped a little with that." Severa looks around the field and notices a copse of trees not too far off. She gestures for Lucina to follow her, and they sit down with their knees almost touching in the shade of a particularly large tree. "So, what's bothering you? Besides me."

Lucina chews her lip. She can't help but notice the clusters of students standing outside the school, watching them. "Have you noticed that people are looking at us more?"

Severa snorts. "You noticed that now? They've been doing that since the day you started talking to me in biology class."

Oh. "I supposed I didn't see it for a while."

Severa looks away. "This is what I meant when I said people will gossip about you if you hang around me." She swallows something that looks particularly painful for her. "If you wanna stop, I get it—"

"No!" Lucina pauses, adding more softly. "I mean, I don't. I just...I keep hearing them mention Owain...and it hurts."

A wall comes up in Severa's eyes when Owain's name is mentioned, and that hurts even more. 'Is that the reason behind all the sudden interest in me?"

"It wasn't sudden," Lucina mutters. "And no, I'm not trying to dig into you for answers. You already told the police everything, right?" she asks, and Severa nods stiffly. "Then, it doesn't matter." Lucina stands up. "It's a small thing to complain about. We should finish your practice."

Severa looks like she wants to argue, but Lucina's already walking away. They go through the basics once again with Severa not even bothering to complain. By the end of the practice when Lucina is commenting on her progress and what to improve upon before walking away, it's the redhead who stops her with a light grip on her wrist.

"Okay, this is clearly bothering you more than you let on." Severa grimaces. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Lucina sighs. "Severa, it's fine. I just need to go home to review some material for our chemistry quiz."

"And I thought I was the stubborn one." Severa drops her hand, and Lucina is already missing the touch. "One, our quiz is next week. Two, it's Friday. Three, look, let's just...go. Let's get away from here and talk. Regna Ferox again? I've got a purchase I need to return, because they messed up the sales pricing."

"It's always shopping with you," Lucina says quietly, but she smiles. "All right. I accept."

They change quickly and hop into Severa's car with the redhead sharing more than few choice words with some of the students who have been staring at them. Lucina makes an half-hearted attempt to stop her before slipping into the car and waiting. Severa circles around after a few minutes and jumps in, nearly slamming the door on her side. "Idiots, all of them."

She starts the engine, backing out of the parking lot and heading onto the main road out of town. Lucina is quiet enough during the ride that Severa squirms slightly. She begins to grimace and taps her fingers on the steering wheel for a few minutes before blurting out, "Okay, fine! Tell me what they've been saying about Owain."

"They've been talking about him and you..."

"Of course, they have. I've been hearing the same rumours my entire life."

"It's a little different now. I'm included now."

"Oh, boo hoo! A few whispered words about the perfect princess. What a shame." Lucina's taken back by her tone, and Severa seems to notice. She deflates. "Sorry, I'm not good at this comforting thing. Yeah, I know how that feels. What are they saying about us?"

"That you've been seducing me to do your bidding."

Severa pauses. She glances at her. "Well? Am I succeeding?"

Lucina laughs out of surprise. For a few seconds, a sweet smile comes onto Severa's face before it's replaced with her familiar smirk.

"I'll take that as a yes, then."

"As someone else once said, I'm not so easy." Lucina gazes at her. "I look forward to see what you try in the future to convince me otherwise."

Severa's throat moves. She doesn't seem to have a response to that. "Uh...so, what else have they've been saying about Owain and I?"

"That you're part of a gang that kidnaps children to sacrifice them."

"Wow, okay. That's a little dark." Severa runs a hand through her bangs. "Geez, they really have a low opinion of me, don't they," she scoffs, but there's an undertone of hurt in her voice.

"They don't know you."

"Of course not. They look at me, and all they expect is my mother." Severa stares straight ahead through the windshield. Her jaw is clenched. "People see my mom, and they fall in love with her. Then, they meet me and think I've clearly been adopted, because I've inherited none of her talents. One kid even called me a defective version of my mom."

Lucina thinks about what Laurent mentioned earlier. "Was that the boy you got into a fight with last year?"

"Yeah. I thought I was going to be expelled." She goes quiet. "Your mom was pretty cool about it. Even listened to my side of the story and everything. Still was suspended for a week though."

"Why did you fight him?"

"That smug idiot not only insulted me, but he insulted my mother. He said that there was something wrong with her for having me."

So, Severa beat up a student for dishonouring her mother. There is something old-fashioned and cute about that. And kind of scary. "That was foolish of him."

"Yeah, that's how he ended up with a broken nose. Haven't seen the jerk since."

Lucina neglects to tell her that the boy subsequently transferred and moved in the week that Severa was gone. "He's wrong though. You're not any version of your mom. You're just you."

One corner of Severa's mouth curves up. "Yeah, and you like me, right?"

A lot, actually, but Lucina isn't going to boost Severa's ego any further. "There's many things to like about you."

Her comment completely backfires. Severa has a smug grin on for the rest of the ride to Regna Ferox.

They make it to the mall and return the item without incident, though Severa did attempt to hassle the clerk into giving her a bigger discount on account of the grief she suffered over her wrongly priced item. She succeeds, and the pair leaves the store with a smirking Severa holding onto a lavender shopping bag.

Lucina smiles at the girl besides her before her mind begins to wander off, puzzling over the strangeness of the day and the painful grip she feels in her chest whenever she thinks about Owain. She must have dazed out for a while, because she feels Severa grabbing her hand and leading her away from the mall to Lucina's surprise.

"What are you doing?" Lucina asks, curiously, as they walk past the end of the mall and into a district made of grey stones with faded banners stretching high above them. The smells of roasting meats and spices hit Lucina's nose, and she feels herself starting to salivate while Severa leads her further into narrow streets with cobblestones made of red and black stones beneath their feet. The entire street looks aged as if they stepped back in time about fifty years, and Lucina's fascinated by the bright splashes of colours across the shops and houses that contrast the stoic look of the stone architecture.

"Where are we?" Lucina asks the girl beside her as she leads them to a pavilion filled with carts showing off freshly made food and emblazoned with colourful signs.

"Old Town. It's a part of Regna Ferox that's untouched by all of the recent building." Severa sniffs, letting go of her hand. "You like spending time with me, right? I'd thought we could go for a walk and stuff." She reaches up and brushes some of Lucina's hair out of her eyes. "Get you out of your head for a while."

Lucina's heart catches at the gesture, feeling Severa's fingers threading through her hair. "I'd like that." She feels her stomach growl and her face reddening consequently. "But do you want to get something to eat first?"

They grab a crepe to share, quickly devouring it within five minutes before going back and buying two more. The shopping district is full of older shops with vintage style clothing involving puffed shoulders and leopard-spotted tights. Lucina thinks that the clothing's quite interesting but finds herself being yanked past the stores by Severa who wears an expression of horror. It's only when they stumble onto a stone path that runs besides a river wide enough to make swimming across it impossible that they stop. The river in itself is charming with the water rushing in splashes of white bursts and a furious roar as it breaks over the rocks jutting out from its bottom. Severa takes the edge of the path that's farthest away from it, and Lucina falls in line beside her.

Lucina peers at the redhead pulling her jacket closer around her. "How do you know so much about this area?"

"My mother used to take me here to check out the shops. My dad travelled a lot to talk to the deacons of different towns, and my mother and I figured out how to kill time together when we came with him." A frown crosses her face. "We used to, anyway."

Lucina is silent. "Sounds like this place meant a lot to you. I'm happy that you decided to share it with me."

At that, Severa crosses her arms. "Yeah, well. You looked like you needed to take your mind off of something."

"This helped." Lucina could hear her heartbeat in her ears, in her throat. She gathers her faltering courage and reaches across the gap that separates her and Severa, gently gathering the surprised girl's hand in hers. She waits to see what will happen, and when Severa doesn't pull away, she lets out a sigh of relief, and turns to face her.

Severa's ears are as red as her hair. "I'm just doing this, because you might get lost."

"Well, I'm lucky that I have you here to find me."

Severa rolls her eyes but doesn't let go.

They walk along the stone path curving around the edge of the town in silence as Lucina stares out over the churning waters. She can't help but wonder where Owain's body would have been found if he had been dumped into this river instead of the one at home. Would he have been torn apart by the rapids or would he have sunk to places that no one would ever have thought to search? Would it have been better if his body had never been found to give them all that sliver of hope that he might be alive somewhere, or was the grief that closure brought more forgiving? Was there something Lucina could have done to stop his death? Was there something she did to cause it?

Her thoughts preoccupy her, and she doesn't notice that they've stopped walking until she feels Severa's hand slip from hers. Startled, she looks up and notices the redhead scowling at her with her hands on her hips, looking about one tic away from exploding. Wisely, Lucina chooses to let her speak first.

"You need to stop obsessing about what's in your head." Severa jabs at her chest. "Like, I've taken you around half of the damn town, and that stupid sad look is still on your face."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize it bothered you so much. I won't have it on anymore."

Bad answer. Severa explodes, "Are you listening to me? I don't care if you're sad! You're human! It's normal to be unhappy from time to time. What bothers me is that..." She hesitates before glancing to the side. "It hurts me to see you sad. That I can't do anything about it."

Lucina stares at her.

Oh.

"You are doing something about it. You're here with me."

"Gods, that was corny." Wincing, Severa runs her hands through her bangs. "I'm serious, Lucina. Today, it feels like you're so far gone in your own head that I can't reach you. And I feel like I can't." She drops her eyes, her voice quiet. "Maybe this was just a mistake."

Something inside Lucina freezes. "What was?"

Severa doesn't seem to hear her as she makes to leave until Lucina grabs her arm. "We're not a mistake."

Severa flushes. "I didn't say that!"

"We're not a mistake," Lucina repeats, pulling her closer. "I... I was just thinking about the rumours that I've been hearing, like I mentioned before. About you. About Owain."

There's a sharp hiss from the redhead who closes her eyes. When she opens there, the look in them make Lucina's heart drop to her feet. "You're always going to be reminded of him when you're with me, aren't you?" Her voice is quiet as she pulls Lucina's hand off of her. "I've already told the police everything. I have no more answers to give you that I didn't give them."

"I know that. I just—I wonder if..."

Severa looks away, but there's something about the way she wraps her arms around herself that reminds Lucina of crystal under pressure, fragile and breaking. "Do you think there's something I'm hiding from them? From you?"

"Of course not! I just want—"

"Him back?" Severa tries to scoff, but the hurt in her voice gives her away. "Did you ever want me? Or was I always a mean to find answers?"

"I've always wanted you," Lucina says, quietly. That gets Severa's attention, and she finally looks her way. "Please, don't ever think that my feelings are less than sincere." She takes a breath and runs her hand through her hair in an attempt to soothe herself. It doesn't work. "I just want to know. I just want to find out what happened to him and who took him. How'd they managed to take him that morning. Whether we could have stopped them." She swallows, a burr in her throat. "Whether it was my fault, because I could have done something."

Severa turns so sharply towards her that Lucina nearly jumps back. "You'd be an idiot to think it was your fault." She reaches up to Lucina's cheeks, fingers tracing a path under her eyes, and the taller girl is surprised to feel wetness on her face. "You are crazy smart and responsible. You're always looking out for other people," Severa's throat moves, "even when they don't deserve it, and you're always giving everything that you have for the people you consider friends.

"Whatever happened to Owain, it's not your fault. It's—" Severa cuts herself off and looks away. It takes her a few seconds to meet Lucina's gaze again. "You didn't kidnap him. You didn't kill him. You had nothing to do with it. So, stop dragging around this guilt for something you didn't do." Her thumb grazes the curve of Lucina's cheek. "Do you understand me?"

Lucina sighs, closing her eyes and feeling the warmth of Severa's fingers on her face. "Yes."

"Okay, good. You were seriously starting to depress me."

Lucina smiles and places a hand over Severa's, pressing down on it so that her palm cradles Lucina's face. "I'll stop making you sad, your Highness."

"Your Majesty is acceptable too," Severa grumbles. She drops her eyes. "And I know I haven't been the most supportive person today."

"It's fine," Lucina sighs, savouring the sensation of Severa's hand on her face. She opens her eyes as a thought hits her. "Er...was that our first fight?"

"Please. We had our first fight when you asked me out." Severa rolls her eyes. "Knowing us, we'll probably yell at each other on the way home."

Lucina thinks they'd probably have to work on the shouting as a form of communication. "Well, let's head home and tempt fate. I've kind of had enough of the scenery."

Severa glances at the waters besides them and winces. "Okay, maybe the river wasn't the best idea."

They make the way to the end of the path, which breaks out into the paved streets and concrete buildings they passed by to get to the mall. Snow starts to fall in light flakes, which baffle the two since it's not remotely close to winter. Severa takes down her twin tails due to the cold while Lucina is suddenly very glad that her new black jacket has a fur lining.

They wander along the concrete buildings and steel fences until Lucina admits she's lost, and Severa spots the glass dome of the crystal mall just a few blocks away. Her fingers slip back into Lucina's hand, pulling her in the direction of the dome as Lucina gets distracted by the people they're sharing the sidewalk with. They pass by men and women in dark uniforms and caps patrolling the streets, passing by the two with cursory glances. The rifles on their backs are troubling. So is the sheer amount of soldiers who are marching up and down the streets as if preparing to quarantine the town.

Severa steps closer to her, squeezing her hand. "So, is it just me, or is all of this unbelievably creepy?"

Lucina frowns. "There weren't so many of them here yesterday. We should ask them what's going on."

"No, we shouldn't. I've seen movies. Things never go well when you get involved."

"Severa, it can't hurt." Lucina stops a boy who barely looks older than her. "Excuse me, do you know why are there so many soldiers here?"

The boy shrugs and scratches at a patch of dark stubble. "The officers just told us to shut up and show up. Can't tell you if there's another war coming on or if they think there's trouble about to go down."

"I see. Thank you for your time." Lucina pulls Severa a little closer as the boy breezes past. "We may need to talk to an officer to get more information."

"Yeah, or we can watch it on the news like normal people."

"Severa, whatever's going to happen may involve our home, our families. We need to know in order to be prepared."

The redhead grimaces. "Fine. One officer. Then, we'll go."

It's easier said than done when Lucina realizes that she doesn't know how to identify one, and Severa has to take the lead, which surprises the taller girl.

"How do you know what to look for?" Lucina asks as Severa points to a woman with light blue hair in a uniform with yellow markings on her arms lingering around the outside of a bar.

"Look for the insignias on the arms and shoulders. That one's a sergeant because they've got three chevrons on their jacket."

"Er...chevrons?"

"Yeah, the yellow pointy hat thing. Look, you got your officer. Just go and ask them your questions, and then let's get out of here."

"But how do you know so much about that?"

Severa sighs. "My mother used to point out the ranks of soldiers we spotted." Which raises the question of how the elder Faulkner knows them. "Less questions of me, more questions of them." She gives Lucina an impatient shove in the direction of the officer.

It turns out that she didn't need to, as the woman in uniform notices them and stares with a dumbfounded expression. It lasts only a few seconds before anger twists her features, and she begins storming towards them.

"Oh, crap." Severa grabs her arm, and they're turning to flee when the woman lets out a bellow behind them.

"Cordelia Faulkner!"

"What?" Severa shares a startled look with Lucina. "How does she know my mother? Also, isn't she aware that my mom is half a foot taller than me? There's no way I could pass as her."

The reason for the officer's mistake becomes obvious when she nears. The smell of alcohol from her clothing makes the woman reek enough that Lucina suppresses an urge to retch, and the soldier, herself, barely manages to stop without toppling over. She jabs a finger in Severa's face. "You fucking coward. You ran off and left us all to die."

"Excuse me? I think you've gotten me confused for someone else." Severa looks like she could have bitten that finger off if Lucina didn't have a hand on the redhead's arm to calm her. "And my name is Severa."

The drunken woman looks confused before rage retakes her expression. "You've got to be related to her. You can't look so much like her without some kind of relationship."

"That's really none of your damn b—"

"If Cordelia were here, we could have stopped the child hunts from restarting," the woman slurs. "We could have stopped them before they started abducting kids from here, from Ylissetol and Valm."

"Child hunts?" Lucina feels her blood leave her face. "Who are you trying to stop?"

The soldier ignores her. "She should be here. We should be stopping them before they take them instead of being on clean-up duty after the fact. And now we're here again, because she didn't do her fucking job good enough the first time!"

"Take it up with my mother then! I have no part in it!" Severa snarls. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Maybe if she showed her fucking face, I would. Some hero she turned out to be. Best sniper in the unit, first lieutenant, and she left us to run off with some pretty priest." The officer pauses, digesting Severa's words. "Your mother..." She peers closely at the younger girl's face. "So, the priest was a man after all!"

"Screw you! What would you know about my parents?" Severa bares her teeth. "Clearly, nothing's going right in your life if you're drunker than a sk—"

The officer swings at Severa. She's fast enough that the redhead barely ducks the first blow and sidestep the second, leaving the soldier to stumble forward, swearing. Lucina moves to restrain the officer, but Severa pushes her back. She slips into the street to get the woman's attention.

"Hey, dumbass! Assault charges, much?"

The officer roars and charges again, stumbling as they loop a sloppy roundhouse that nearly causes them to lose their balance when Severa once again steps to the side. "Stay the fuck still!" The soldier fumbles into a wall and turns to face her young opponent. A sneer crosses her scarred face. "The daughter of a deserting whore. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tr—"

Severa punches her in the mouth. Lucina didn't even have time to blink.

The soldier stumbles backward and claps a hand over her jaw, shock on her face. Severa stands shorter than either her or Lucina, but the expression on her face would leave any attacker reconsidering their plan. "You say one more word about my mother, and I'll beat all of your ugly teeth out of your head."

Lucina places herself between them. "Stop—"

The soldier spits out blood. There's fury on her face. "Your mother ran from the Grimleal, and I bet you will too. Cowar—"

Severa darts past Lucina and hits the soldier right below her ear with a roundhouse punch, and the woman drops as if suddenly falling asleep on her feet. Severa's face has gone unusually pale.

Lucina stares at the unconscious woman before Severa grabs her by the forearm and drags her out of the area, as people were starting to come around the corner to investigate the sounds. A few blocks from the scene, she drops her touch as if it burns and stalks off towards her car. Lucina opens her mouth to ask a question before catching a glimpse of Severa's expression. She decides to quickly get into the vehicle while her friend drives off so quickly from the scene that Lucina swears she has whiplash from the sharp turns down the mountain road.

The redhead is furious if the set of her eyes and the tension in her jaw is any sign. She also looks pale enough to be sick, and nothing has been spoken between them since they left the officer. The silence is so stifling, Lucina could choke on it. She knows she needs to break it.

Lucina swallows, nervously. She decides to lead with a less volatile question. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Severa's hands tighten on her steering wheel. They go white. The first two knuckles on her right hand are starting to swell, and it looks quite painful. "My father taught me. After we visited Valm when I was younger. He thought that I should know how to defend myself."

Which she did frightfully well. "Do you need some ice for your hand?"

Severa's expression tightens. "What I need is to know why my mother has hidden so many damn secrets from me."

"Like the child hunts." Lucina takes a breath. "Do you think that was related to Owain?"

"I don't know." Severa goes quiet, and something that looks like guilt spasms across her face. She pulls over to the side of the road where she turns off the engine. Her breaths come out ragged, and she runs her undamaged hand through her hair. A laugh comes from her throat. It doesn't sound happy. "Here I am accusing my mother of keeping secrets when I'm the same."

"Severa?"

The redhead turns to her. "Listen, it's not your fault that Owain got kidnapped, because...it's mine." Severa drops her eyes. "I was the last one to see him alive."


	8. Agitated

The shock of Severa's words renders her stuck for several seconds. Lucina rewinds them in her mind as if there is any more meaning in a phrase so simple, and when she finally understands, it's as if the world she comprehends is crumbling apart. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Severa shrugs, a careless raise of one shoulder that's almost offensive. "One, I already said that I told the police everything. Two, if you somehow didn't find out from your father, I don't think you'd believe the story."

Lucina watches her carefully composed expression, the irreverence of her tone. They're belied by something in Severa's eyes that reminds her of an animal about to bolt. "Tell me, and let me decide."

Severa turns her head and stares out the window. She's silent for such a long time, it's as if the redhead has sunken into stone. Lucina waits for her—the quiet of the car slipping into an eternity as her hands clench at the fabric of her jacket.

"I'll tell you what happened. From the start." Severa's words come in starts and fits, each pause like a solid beat of rest in a cluster of staccatos. "Owain invited me out to the river at your eighth birthday party. The one where your parents dressed you up as a 'princess hero', and Cynthia smashed her face into your cake."

Lucina remembers that. She had tried to wipe off Cynthia's face after her friend had tripped into Lucina's plate. Sumia had come out of the kitchen to wash up her daughter, and Severa gave her half of her own piece after seeing Lucina's empty dish. It was also the last time she saw Owain alive.

"I told him that I was going to be an adventurer far from here when I grew up, and Owain told me that he had a secret to share with me if I wasn't all talk. So, I met him at the river at sunrise when everyone was sleeping. He showed me this stupid cave on the other side that he wanted to store treasure in, and he made some big speech about being heroes and saving worlds beyond our own. I thought it was dumb and asked him to lead me back over the river, and on our way, I found..." She bites her lip. There's a horror in her eyes like she's seeing a nightmare, a voice in her ears that Lucina strains to hear. "Gods, I can't even tell you how awful it was."

"Does it have to do with what happened with Owain?"

Severa starts laughing—a lilt that sounds as unhappy as it sounds desperate. "It has everything to do with that."

"Then, I need to know. For my own sake. Please."

Severa takes another long breath, her body flinching like each revelation is ripping at her insides. "It was a book. We found it under a bush with torn cloth caught in the thorns like someone was trying to run past and and just shoved it in. And being the stupid kids that we were, we opened it. It..." She falls into a painful silence, eyes wrenched shut. "It was a horrible book. It burned Owain on his palms when he tried to pick it up. And I know it sounds like I made it up, but it branded his hands with an eye. When I...found him later, his palms had been slashed until you couldn't see it."

Lucina leans back. She shuts her eyes and holds her hands to her face as she tries to cease the whirling of her thoughts. At Owain's funeral, his hands had been wrapped in thick bandages, though no one would ever tell her why.

Several minutes pass before she could bring her hands down. "But what does an eye have to do with anything?"

"The eye's a mark. It made it easier for the book's owners to find him."

"But why?"

Severa smiles, a thin line across her mouth that doesn't reach her eyes. "Because it's a book that belongs to the Grimleal. And only Owain and I knew where we hid it."

Something cold bleeds into the space between them as if Severa's words had siphoned all the air out of the car. Lucina's has trouble breathing as her thoughts reel against one another like a tangle of kites weighing each other down. "The Grimleal were hunting children."

"And they marked them first, so everyone knows which ones to take. That's what I think." Severa's eyes become unfocused, distant. She looks like she's gone somewhere Lucina can't reach her. "I don't know yet what the book means to them, but the cave was undisturbed. Owain didn't tell them anything." Her knuckles tighten on the steering wheel.

"Do they know about you?" A thought flits across Lucina's mind and makes her stomach sink as if it's filled with stones. "They'll come for you if they do."

"Tell me something I don't know," Severa scoffs. "They...they tried once before, or I think it was them. When my dad took me on a trip after Owain's funeral to get away from everything. They nearly pulled me into a van when I was walking outside of a village in Chon'sin. My dad saved me, but he didn't let me out of his sight until we came home." She sits back, her shoulders sagging as if under too much weight. "So, yeah. I've been dealing with it for a while."

Fear grips at Lucina's throat when she considers how close she came to losing both Owain and Severa. "Why didn't you tell anyone this?"

Severa turns her head to meet her gaze, and when Lucina sees the look in them, a shock runs down from her throat to her belly. "Do you really believe I didn't?"

Silence stretches between them like the distance between two drifting stars. Lucina shifts to see Severa better, the slight rustle of her jacket like a bomb inside the car. "Who did you talk to?"

Severa frowns. "A man who worked for your father's department. Big man, big mustache, bigger belly. I ran into him after—after I found Owain in the river. He patted my head and listened to me blabber. He told me that he would write everything down in his report, and it would be best for my safety and my parents' if I don't mention any more of it to anyone. He would take care of everything else."

She stares ahead, gaze distant. "He's still on the force, and, yet, nothing's been solved. There's something wrong with your father's police department, Lucina."

"There's nothing wrong with my father's policemen." Lucina's voice comes out high and tight. She doesn't recognize herself.

The redhead tilts her head towards Lucina, exposing the long lines of her throat. "Then, why doesn't your father know?"

When Lucina doesn't answer, Severa lets out a soft snort. There's something in her gaze that reminds Lucina of someone who's fought too many battles, but there is a strange sort of relief too. "So, now you know it. My sordid tale. How many hours do I have before you kick me out of your life?"

Lucina starts, the question a sudden shock. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because it was my fault. I found the book." Severa can't meet her gaze. "And it was my big mouth that made Owain want to show me that cave in the first place. And I'm the one that let him walk home alone." The next words come out almost inaudible. "Do you hate me?"

Lucina looks at her, hearing everything repeat in her head. She doesn't know.

When she thinks about Owain and how he'd been found, a fury rises up in her, dark and suffocating like a beast awakening, clawing at her throat, her mind—she wants nothing more than to see what happened to Owain be brought to light and the perpetrators to pay what they owe. Her face must have revealed her ire, because she sees something in Severa's eyes die out, her expression like a man's who has been told that he was condemned to death. Silently, Severa gets out of the car, walking over the gravel edge and into a field of waist-grass, as if heading to a destination Lucina can't see.

Watching her go into the darkness without looking back makes terror grab at Lucina's heart, and she's seized with a sudden panic that she is going to lose her. Lucina darts out of the car and towards Severa, trampling the grass around her in a bid to reach her. When she does, she grabs Severa's arm, and the redhead rips it away with a snarl, whirling upon her like a wounded animal. Something glistens on Severa's cheeks in the fading twilight, and Lucina's chest tightens at the sight.

"What do you want, Lucina? Do you just want answers to Owain's death? Are you looking for someone to blame like everyone else?" Severa's voice cracks. "Was that all you wanted from me?"

Lucina's throat closes at her tone. She can't speak, and Severa takes the silence as a judgment.

"Fine." The redhead's voice is low, furious, and desperate. "We'll never speak of this again."

"Severa, I'm not angry at you. I don't blame you."

"Bullshit." Severa's fists are clenched tightly at her sides. She looks so disappointed. "I don't know why I'd thought you'd be different."

Something tears in Lucina's chest, but she moves towards her anyway. "Severa, will you listen to me? You didn't kill Owain. It wasn't you."

"But it might as well have been," Severa spits. "It should have been me."

Lucina almost slaps her. "No. It shouldn't have been either of you." She takes a long breath. "Show me the book. I want to judge it for myself."

"No! I'm not taking you to see it. That's just stupid!"

"Fine! Don't take me to the cave, and let me see proof for myself!"

The redhead snarls, showing teeth. "Good! I'm glad you agree!"

Severa is too smart for reverse psychology. Lucina should have guessed.

"Look, I just..." Lucina holds her fingers to her forehead. "I just want..."

"You don't believe me, do you?" Severa's tone is sharp. There's clear hurt in her eyes.

"Of course, I do. We have recorded evidence of magical weapons and staffs in history, remember?"

"But we live in the real world, and that shouldn't happen." There's a crack in Severa's voice. It sounds ready to break. "Magic doesn't exist. Voices shouldn't come out of books, and demons caught in pages shouldn't be able to kill you."

"But they do. And they did. I'm sorry, Severa." Lucina glances at the heaving girl in front of her, panic at the edge of her expression. Whatever's between them feels like a thin cord on the verge of snapping, but she has to know. "Where is the book?"

"Are you even listening to me? I can't tell you, otherwise it'll get you killed like it did Owain!"

The words hang between them like a curtain, an iron wall. Severa's voice comes out quiet. "I mean it. If you find out, you'll die too. I don't want to get you involved."

Something thick settles in Lucina's throat. She swallows past that. "And you? Are you not afraid that this secret you insist on bearing alone will kill you too?"

The words come softly like a whisper, but each of them hit Lucina with a vivid violence. "I'm already prepared for that."

A long stretch of silence. Lucina feels her mouth go dry, and her fist clenching at her sides. "And how are you prepared?"

Severa looks away. "I can't tell you that either, but it's part of the reason why I said that..." She glances up at Lucina, meeting her eyes. "That this might be a mistake."

Each of Severa's words feel like they're spearing out pieces of Lucina's heart, as she realizes her meaning. "So, you plan on taking on this burden by yourself? The Grimleal come after you and you take them on, becoming a hero, but what happens to you, Severa? Do you die like Owain and never let your family know what happened? Never let me know?"

Severa crosses her arms. She looks deeply tired. "Just go, Lucina. Walk away. You don't need to be involved in this train wreck of one. Go wait in the car, and we can pretend this never happened."

Lucina trembles. It's not from fear. "Do you honestly believe that I'm the kind of person who walks away when someone's in trouble?" She stares at Severa until she realizes that the girl in front of her wants Lucina to blame her. Like she blames herself. "No, Severa. Help isn't what you want, is it? You don't want to be a hero. You want to be forgiven. You think that this plan you have is going to make up for what happened to Owain, don't you?"

Severa looks like Lucina might have well as struck her. "What would you know about me?"

"I know that your favourite colour is red and that your favourite fruit are peaches." Lucina takes a step forward. "And I know that you hate being compared to your mother, because you want to be recognized as your own person. I know that your father's favourite topic to preach is forgiveness. And I know that you feel like you'll never earn it to make up for what you think you should have done." She takes another and watches as Severa's shoulders start to shake. Lucina searches her memory for a phrase she's heard the priest use before. "Grace is only given when it's undeserved. That's why it's a gift."

Severa's breathing hard. She doesn't respond.

Lucina continues, "You say you don't want to draw me in, but you heard that officer. The Grimleal abducted children from Ylissetol eight years ago." She notices that Severa has gone rigid, but she continues. "They killed Owain." Her voice drops. "I'm already involved, Severa. They took family from me."

The redhead is silent for such a long time that Lucina is about to prompt her when she speaks. "You didn't see his face." Severa covers her face with one hand as if trying to block out something. "The police had closed his eyes before your family ever saw the body, but he looked so terrified when I found him, Lucina. He looked like he died painfully and alone."

A stabbing sensation goes through Lucina's chest, and she feels like she can't breathe. It passes in a minute, but the sorrow it leaves behind is almost suffocating like she's drowning in its wake. He didn't deserve that. He never did.

"And I'm the one that led to him to it. Even the detective who talked to me said it would be better if I kept quiet about it. That maybe I made up the story, because I was the one responsible. Who'd believe a crazy girl about a cursed book?"

Lucina's eyebrows rocket towards her hairline. She spent her entire life talking to her father about his work, and she's never heard of any credible investigator who would say something like that to a child for what is clearly an adult's crime. "What was his name?"

"I don't know. Cerviches or something like that." Severa scoffs softly and looks away into the darkness around them. "What does it matter? He was right."

"Severa, he was a grown man telling a young girl that...a murder was her fault. There was something wrong with him. Not you." Lucina thinks about Severa's words. She begins to wonder about the investigation into Owain's death. "As someone dear recently told me, you can stop dragging around this guilt for something you didn't do."

Severa turns to look at her, but there's a expression in her eyes that makes the hair on Lucina's arms stand up. "Lucina, just drop it. We don't live in a fairy tale. You're not my hero, and I don't need you to save me." The redhead's knuckles have swollen to nearly twice their size. There's something broken in her hand like there's something broken in Severa. "So, stop treating me like I'm a walking pity party."

"Then, stop acting like it. Like you're the only affected by this." Lucina feels her composure crumbling, something hot and desperate climbing in her chest. "You don't think that after everything you've told me, I wouldn't be terrified for you? That I wouldn't dwell on the fact that I nearly lost you as well as Owain? That if you keep going at this by yourself, I am going to lose you." Lucina's voice goes quiet. "I can't afford to do so. So, please let me help you before it's too late again."

Severa steels herself, but the defensive line of her shoulders crumples—slowly, at first, like a crack along the surface of a dam. Her stoic expression falters next, and the corner of her mouth wrench themselves down in grief. Her cold demeanour collapses. "Lucina, I didn't think—gods, I'm so self-absorbed. I didn't think about how you felt about this at all."

Lucina takes a final step towards her until she's only a foot away. She reaches out to gently grasp Severa's unhurt hand. "I don't know what your plan is to handle the Grimleal, but I'm here beside you. Promise me you won't do something stupid like sacrificing yourself to save the world."

Severa scoffs, "No way. I'm way too self-centred to be a martyr. It sounds more like something you'd do."

Despite her words, Lucina feels worry writhing in her belly. "Promise me, please."

"Fine. I promise I will not kamikaze myself to save the world. Happy?"

"Yes." Lucina's arms loop around Severa's neck, drawing them closer until they are resting their foreheads against one another's. "If it ever comes to that, we'll think of something else, okay?"

"Melodramatic, much?" There's a second of hesitation before Severa relaxes into Lucina's hold and says, softly, "I won't go anywhere, Lucina. Not unless you want me to."

Lucina closes her eyes, hearing only the sounds of their breathing in the silence around them. They stand there, caught in a moment where nothing can harm them and nothing can hurt them—a pause in time that the taller girl commits to memory until she rebuilds the warmth of Severa nearby, the scent of her hair that reminds Lucina of wildflowers, and the solidness of her arms around Lucina's nape. When the memory's completed, her eyes flutter open as she takes in the sight of the girl before her, her own eyes closed in turn for only a second longer.

Severa opens her eyes, and Lucina feels a jolt through her belly when their gazes meet. There's a heat to Severa's stare that makes the blood in Lucina's veins feel like molten gold, smudging out coherent thoughts in her head with its fingers of liquid fever. Lucina has a moment to admire the colour of Severa's eyes—a shade of wine that in the right kind of light turns to a searing red, the nearly porcelain quality of her skin, and faint tinge of pink in her lips before rational thought departs from her, and all she can think about is how utterly gorgeous Severa is.

They gaze at each other for a long while before Severa stiffens. Lucina's uncertain from what until the redhead scowls. "You know that was, like, the perfect moment for a kiss, right?"

...oh.

Oh!

Lucina leans in, but Severa's already sighing and moving away. She pushes the crestfallen girl back with a hand on her shoulder. "The moment's over." She coughs and turns her gaze to the side, reddening slightly. "But that doesn't mean there won't be another one."

"I see." Lucina clears her throat, disappointed. "Why don't you take the lead the next time it comes up?" Apparently, she keeps mistiming it.

"Depends when it does." Severa shrugs. "So, can we leave this field? Cause my hand is seriously killing me."

Yes, that swollen and bruised hand looks like it needs medical care. "We better hurry to the hospital then." Lucina grabs Severa's unhurt hand and begins leading her to the car by the wayside. "And we need to tell my father about what the book you found."

Severa jerks her hand back. "Um...hello? Unreliable police reports? Shoddy investigations? Something's happening with your dad's police force, and he might be in on it?"

Lucina's throat burns. The thought of her own father... "No, he's not. He can't be. I know him, and he would never let Owain's death slip by without finding out the truth." She turns around, seeing only the other girl's faint outline in the moonlight. "Do you trust me, Severa?"

Severa hesitates for a moment, for a lifetime, before she steps closer to Lucina, touching her arm. "If it's you making the calls, I've got your back."

"And do you trust my judgment that my father will be able to help you with this?"

"You're backing me into a corner here." A hiss comes from the other girl. "But yeah, I do."

Lucina can't help the smile that breaks across her face. She crushes a startled Severa into a hug. "Then, we'll tell him the moment we return."

"All right, geez! Let go of me. You think you'd just asked me to marry you with the way you reacted," Severa grumbles. "If this blows up in our face, I get to tell you 'I told you so'."

The pair make it back to the car on the side of the road and realize that they're extremely lucky that no one took it while they were gone, since the doors are unlocked and the keys still are in the ignition. Severa starts the engine again, and they take off of the side of the road, gravel crunching beneath the wheels.

Lucina watches the outline of the grasses waving by as they pass. "I'm starting to suspect that we shouldn't be near any open fields when we have serious conversations."

"Why? Yelling at each other across a field has been therapeutic for our relationship."

Lucina frowns at her before an idea occurs. She pulls out her phone and dials her father's number. "You can arrange to meet him at the hospital."

Severa glances sharply at her. "What now? While I'm driving?"

"I'll hold it." Lucina places her father on speakerphone as Chrom's voice fills the inside of the car. She nudges Severa, and the redhead grimaces before leaning forward towards the phone.

"I have something to tell you about Owain."


	9. Break: Owain and Severa

Severa squints at the sunlight breaking over the horizon as she peddles her bike down an empty street towards the river. She stops by the big tree that hugs a corner at the end of a street and hide her bike behind its trunk. She makes her way along the river bank until she sees a blond boy with an impatient pout waiting on a boulder nearly as big as he is. Owain's easy to find with his bright crown of hair already spiralling out of control, and when he spots her, he leaps from the rock, a wide grin stretching along his face as he darts towards her.

"What took you so long?" he says to her when she approaches.

"Hey! I took a big risk to sneak out to meet you!" she sniffs. "You can at least be nice to me."

"Sorry! I just want to show you something!" He takes her by the hand, gently despite his bouncing. "Come on!"

He takes her by the oak tree that fell in the river last year, which no one has been inclined to move. The trunk is wide enough that they can walk across it comfortably, save for the ominous creak the tree makes when they step onto it. Or the fact that it shifts slightly with the current.

Owain hesitates, his expression fearful before something determined comes into his eyes. He jumps onto the trunk, which lets out a loud crack and drifts a little in the river; Owain's nearly tumbles into the water as Severa screams, watching his feet scrabble on the slippery wood. He grabs onto a jutting branch as he falls, saving himself but scraping his palm in return.

"Ow." He pulls himself up and jumps over the end of the tree onto the opposite bank. "Be careful, Severa."

Severa rolls her eyes and quickly slips across the oak trunk, aware of the pressure of her steps. She makes it to Owain without incident and sees a splinter in his palm that has the boy tearing up. Huffing, she grabs the startled boy's hand and peers at the tiny sliver caught in the flesh at the base of his thumb. She reaches over and pinches it—remembering how her mother has done it for her last week—before gently pulling out the wood. "There! Now be more careful."

Owain examines his palm with awe. "You're amazing, Severa." He grabs her hand and pulls her into the woods ahead of them, not noticing the blush on her face from the compliment. "C'mon!"

"Wait!" She yanks her hand back. "What do you want to show me?"

"Something great for any warrior!" He spins around. "I told you at Lucina's party!"

Yesterday was Lucina's birthday, and her parents couldn't decide between dressing her as a princess or a hero. They ended up placing a tiara on her dark hair and a plastic blade by her side, calling her a princess hero, and Lucina plays the role well, swinging her sword with a flourish that makes the other children gape in awe.

Lucina's also so ridiculously sweet that she doesn't yell at Cynthia when the girl trips and accidentally smashes her face into the birthday girl's piece of cake. She moves to help up her embarrassed friend, wiping her face inexpertly with a tissue until Sumia comes into the room at the sound of her daughter's crying. The gentle woman thanks Lucina while leading the sniffling Cynthia into the bathroom to clean her up, and Severa glances at Lucina's now empty plate and her own uneaten piece. She tries to slice it in half as evenly as she can with her fork before dumping a portion onto Lucina's plate and huffing at the startled girl's look. "You're the birthday girl. You need cake."

Lucina's eyes soften. "Thank you." And she actually begins eating Severa's cake while the latter bats away Owain's and Inigo's teasing jibes.

Later when everyone is giving her gifts, Severa hands Lucina a card she spent the last week working on with giggling suggestions from her mother and her father's guiding hand in drawing the bubbles and words. Lucina takes such a long look at it that the parents are glancing at each other and the kids start whispering. Severa flushes from all the looks cast her way. She's about to say something when Lucina slowly places the card on the table and throws herself at a startled Severa, looping her arms around her friend's neck and whispering that she loved it in her ear. Her own mother teases Severa about the slight flush she wears for the rest of the day.

Owain leads her past the thick trunks of trees onto a route that's relatively flat and free of pebbles, chattering all the while. Outside the path, the trees rise around them, clustered between juts of stony fingers. Severa catches glimpses of him under the intermittent bursts of sunlight overhead, and he's handsome in a boyish way with his dreaming eyes and beautiful smile that reminds her of a day on the edge of slipping into night. She gazes at the frame of his shoulders, the line of his jaw that has yet to roughened out, and she imagines that if this was a fairy tale, he would be her prince and she—his princess. They'd ride horses by the day, and he'd spend the nights telling her how beautiful she was. He'd carry her when she was tired, and she would cook for him for when he came home, enchanting her with tales of his latest adventure across treacherous waters and devastating deserts until she's ignited with the desire to go with him. They'd travel worlds together and win wars in lands unheard of.

He squirms out of her grasp and darts into a clearing filled with purple and yellow flowers, lifting his arms to the sky. "We should call this place the Garden of the Can't Sleep Knights."

Or maybe not.

"Look!" He runs up to a pile of stones that sit in front of a cliff face and gestures to it in a spinning flourish. "Ta-da!"

Severa looks at the rubble—pieces about the size of her forearm put together in a haphazard bundle—before meeting Owain's gaze. "You told me to come here to show me rocks?"

Owain looks wounded, as if it's her fault that she can't see the interest in a mess of stones taller than they are. "No, you have to see what it can be!"

An avalanche of rocks?

Owain grabs at a speckled piece half the size of his head and yanks it out before Severa can shout in alarm. The cascade of miniature boulders never comes, and the blond boy stands there triumphantly with the stupid stone still held overhead. "See! It's a passage!" He hurls it aside and quickly begins to tear out other rocks until a hole that they can barely squeeze through starts to form. "Come on."

He pushes himself through the dark crevice and after a few seconds of hesitation, Severa joins him. She's caught between two rock shelves that forces the girl to turn sideways to avoid scraping herself on them as she passes through. There's space at her feet though—enough that a grown adult can crawl through, but Severa is not going to go on her hands and knees through a dirty floor.

She walk into a cavern large enough to fit their class of 20 students. Stalagmites jut up from the sandy bottom like the thin teeth of an ancient beast while a pool of water floods the ground between them. A single hole in the ceiling of the cavern allows sunlight to illuminate the water, the entrance where Severa and Owain stand, and little else.

The excited boy gestures wildly to the cavern beyond them. "Isn't it cool?"

"A cave," Severa says, flatly. That's it. She's going home.

"Not just any cave! A cave for heroes!" He grins at her, the excitement palpable in his eyes. "We'll be legends! I'll be king and you the queen, and we can storm the heavens together! Or I'll be a terrifying protector to a lord of the land, sending enemies running with my sword and words of magic!" He looks at her. He pauses. "And you can protect the princesses! Severa the Scary who can stop armies with her glare and wrestles bulls and—"

Wrestle bulls? What kind of weirdo comes up with an idea like that?

"—and we'll save worlds from bad guys and evil, and then we'll disappear like the mysteries we are!" With a whirl, he leaps to her, grinning so widely that Severa thinks his smile cracked his face. "What do you think of that?"

"It sounds dumb," Severa snorts, but she's intrigued by the idea. "Wait, why is my name Severa the Scary?"

Owain doesn't answer, because he darts into a dark part of the cavern, hidden by a single stalagmite by the edge of the water. "Check this out! I found out that these rocks can hide treasure!"

Severa follows him and sees Owain removing a thin slab of rock that reveals a hole the size of their science textbook. He gabs on, excitedly. "We can hide gems and gold and loot in here."

Severa is confused. "Wait, are we pirates, or are we warriors?"

"Yes!" Owain replaces the slab and jumps up. "This is going to be so cool! Having secret meetings here and forming our own knight group. We'll call ourselves the Mystletainn Might."

They are calling themselves no such thing. "I don't want this! Why are you showing me this anyway?"

His smile falters. "I'm showing you this, because you told me you wanted to be an adventurer too." His shoulders drop, and he looks smaller, scared. "Or did I get it wrong?"

Ugh...Owain's annoying, but Severa doesn't really want to be the one who breaks the boy's spirit. "I don't know. Can we get out of here first?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure." He leads them out through the tight passageway and back into the clearing, replacing the rocks in the passageway with a reverence. "So, umm...what do you think?" He looks at her with hopeful eyes.

Severa's not sure when crawling through a bunch of rocks is ever going to be cool. "I need to go home. Can you take me out of here?'

Owain's face falls, and Severa hates that she's the cause of it. "Yeah. Come here." He takes her hand again, and he trudges towards the river, head down and pace sluggish. He moves as if someone told him his puppy died.

Severa can't take it anymore. "Ugh. Fine! It's awesome, Owain. We'll be great warriors."

He lifts his head, staring at her before his grin pops back onto his face. "Yeah! We will! We'll be the coolest! And we won't invite Inigo!" he scowls. "He spends too much time dancing with his mom anyway!"

Severa thinks of Mrs. Montoya with her shy smiles and the way she weaves across the dance floor with a rhythm and ease that makes any spectator believe that each song she dances to was born for her. "She's really pretty."

Owain sticks his tongue out. "Ew!"

Severa snaps, "You're ew!"

Something catches Severa's eye, and she pulls away from Owain to peer at something dark in a tangle of bushes full of red berries and thorns. She approaches it slowly, recognizing the object as a ragged piece of cloth caught in the brambles, hardly large enough to cover her palm. The more curious thing is what looks like the thick end of a tome hastily shoved under the bush's thorns. "Someone left a book!"

"A book?" Owain appears beside her and his eyes light up when he spots the strange object. "It's a mystery!"

"Don't touch it!" Severa snaps as the blond boy retreats from the bush with a pout. "Let me get it out." She doesn't want to touch the brambles, so she picks up a thick stick from a nearby trail and pokes at the thick book, sliding it out of the bush in spurts.

"Hurry up, Severa! I want to look at it!" Owain bobs up and down, irritating Severa so much that she jabs at him with her stick. "You already found an adventure! You're incredible!" Owain grins at her. "When we're grown up, I'll marry you."

Severa wrinkles her nose. "What if I don't want to marry you?"

"Uh...you can marry Morgan!"

"Ew!"

"Or Lucina!" he adds, hastily. "We'll be family anyway!"

The book finally slips out with a final jab from Severa, its leathery, faded cover visible in the morning light. On its front is a closed eye with lines drawn through it, like it's weeping, connecting to a dragon with six wings. On the edges of the book are clamps and steel bindings as if the person who placed them there hoped to seal it shut. There's something off about the colour of the strips of leather that covers the front like it's too close to the colour of her own skin, and Severa stares at the tome, feeling an urge to shove it back into the bush.

"We gotta open it, Severa! It's our destiny to be heroes!" He grins. "Evil will shake at our names, and we'll cleave our foes in two."

Severa frowns, "What does cleave mean?"

"Err..." Owain turns to the book. "We should check this out!" He begins to unfasten the bindings on the book and flips open to the a page that crinkles in the sunlight, faded and slightly yellow. Lines of letters appear on the pages in a swirling style like they've been drawn with ink, but Severa doesn't recognize the language and trying to sound out the words makes her feel like she's twisting her tongue. Owain's not faring much better if the crease between his brows and the constipated expression on his face is any indication. He flips through the pages impatiently, flipping past lengthy lists, diagrams, maps, and charts of lands neither of them can identify. He gets to the middle of the book where a detailed sketch of six eyes connected by weeping lines twist together into a singular point. The illustrations behind that page are disturbing.

Owain quickly goes through page after page, his face whitening with each new picture while Severa suppresses an urge to throw up, closing her eyes after glimpsing at an image of priests stretching out a screaming girl. But he can't seem to stop turning the pages, and Severa feels compelled to watch him, stuck to the spot as if frozen in time as he goes through image after image until he reaches the last page where six large eyes are drawn in matted red lines against a sea of black as if the artist had thrown the contents of their inkwell onto the book. They stare at the two children, and in a second that lasts a lifetime, Severa swears that the eyes crinkle as if whoever they belonged to are pleased at what they saw. She sees them blink.

Severa screams and slams the book shut. Owain falls backwards onto his butt, heaving and looking as sick as that time he got the flu last year. And beside the thorny bush, Severa swears she hears someone whispering in a low, unrecognizable language between the panting of her and Owain's breaths.

Owain gets up first, shaking. "That's enough of being heroes for today."

Severa pushes herself to her feet. "What do we do with that? We should leave it." Or burn it. Burn it with a lot of fire.

"No, we should take it to our parents. There's something wrong with it."

Owain shares a glance with Severa, and she knows that he's right. She says, "You pick it up, then."

"Uh...my dad always said, 'Ladies first'." He yelps when she slugs him in the arm. "Okay! I'll do it!" Puffing out his chest, he stares down at the book as if trying to intimidate it. "I'm going to be a legend one day, so I need to be brave." He redoes the bindings and the clamps back onto the book, and holds it up triumphantly for a few moments before a sick expression slips onto his face, and he goes paler than Severa's father does that time he catches her climbing on the roof.

"Owain, what's the matter?" The next question dies on her lips as he drops the tome with a thud, smoke rising from the red-lined marks burning on his palms in the shape of an eye. "Owain!"

Severa bolts to him as the shaking boy stares straight ahead. He retches, bent double from the force, his sickness splashing onto the ground and onto Severa's shoes. She doesn't stop running to him as his knees buckle and his eyes roll into his head. "Are you okay?"

She grabs him as he collapses into her, nearly staggering her to the ground. "Owain!"

Owain's still for a long moment before he coughs and opens his eyes, a strange milky sheen that Severa shrieks at before he blinks it away and his normal green eyes look up at her. He stares as if he hadn't expected to wake up.

"You're okay."

Owain grimaces, struggling to get up. "We need to move it. It's evil, and we can't leave it here."

What? "How could a book be evil?"

He looks at his hands, the bright lines of red searing and bubbling his flesh. "How could a book do this?"

Point taken.

Severa reaches for the tome, and Owain slaps her hands out of the way, shocking her. "Don't touch it!" He holds out his palms to her. The smell of burning flesh reminds her of cooked pork and makes her want to retch. "It'll hurt you too!"

Severa stares at him, noticing the strain in his face and the terror in his eyes, as if the book would hunt and kill him itself. She hesitates for a long moment before pulling off of her jacket that her mom bought her last month and wraps it around the book. Even with the separation of cloth, she feels the book's whispers and pleas to let it mark her as its own, to burn her with the same brands it left on Owain. She holds it as far away from her body as possible.

Owain bolts ahead back to the clearing as if there's something chasing him, and Severa darts behind him, arms aching from the weight in her hands. She reaches him just as he finishes tearing the last of the stones from the cliff and slips into the passageway without looking back. Severa squeezes through after him, the narrow space between the rock shelves forces her to keep the book close to her stomach, the skin along her arms feeling as if it's trying to crawl away from the tome in her hands. The heat she feels from its steel bindings—if it was trying to sear its mark into her hands too—makes her want to pitch it into the river and never talk about it again.

When she reaches the cavern, Owain emerges from the shadows on her left, and waves her to him, the red-hot markings on his palms looking like there are more lines to it than the last time she saw it, like the brand is creeping down his wrists. "The hole," he croaks.

Severa hurls the book into the pit along with her jacket, and as she throws it, she swears that the eye on the front cover opens as Owain slides the slab back on top. He winces as his hands struggle to grip the rock. When she steps near him, she hears something like whispers on the wind, a low rumble that has something gripping her heart in a painful, icy squeeze. She shoots backwards as Owain gets up, his eyes drained and his eyes looking like they've aged a lifetime in the minutes between touching the book and burying it. He clenches his hands, and the whispering stops though his skin has gone grey and he looks like he's dying.

Severa grabs his arm and guides him out, going slowly when he stumbles over stones and sticks that he leaped over half an hour before. They make it out into the sunlight in the clearing, and yet, something makes the hair on Severa's nape stand on end. "We should go home."

Owain nods as he begins to replace the rocks and Severa stoops down to help him when he struggles to lift some of them, sweat streaming down his shaking face. They finish quickly, and Owain guides them out of the forest with Severa holding him up. When they reach the floating trunk in the river, Severa goes first, grabbing onto his hand when he stumbles and slips across the bark. He smiles weakly at her as she calls him an idiot in a worried tone and manages to get the both of them onto solid ground.

They don't say anything to each other, merely staring back at the other side of the river until Owain kicks at a clump of dirt in front of him, his hands tucked deep into his pocket. He looks deeply ill, like he might drop dead on his feet if he tried to walk home alone.

"I'll go get your mom." Severa volunteers.

"No! I wasn't supposed to sneak out!" Owain's eyes are wide. He looks more fearful of his mother's wrath than whatever happened to him from the book. "I'm fine, Severa. I'll see you later."

She stamps her foot. "No, you're not. You look like you could throw up any moment. We're getting your mom."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes! Stop being so stubborn, Owain!" It's like it ran in his genes or something. "At least, let me walk you home!"

Owain shakes his head and shuffles his feet. "I just need some sleep. I'll see you at school." He turns and walks away towards his house, and Severa huffs, running after him. She would have smacked him if he didn't look like he would keel over from the blow.

He glances at her, surprised. "I said I was fine!"

"Don't be dumb! I just left my bike near your house," she sniffs. A second later, she glances at him sidelong to see if he's okay. His jaw is set, and his eyes look grim. She hopes his mother doesn't get too mad at him when she finds out what they did.

Owain and her part ways at the giant oak tree that marks the turn into his street from the riverbank. He refuses to let her come with him for whatever reason, and Severa's anxious about how high the sun has risen since she left earlier.

"Severa, you'll get in trouble if you stay out too long."

Owain's right. She needs to get back and hop into bed before her mother notices she's gone.

Glancing down the street and spotting a patrol car lumbering down the paved road, she asks, "Are you going to be okay, Owain?"

He sways slightly on his feet before puffing up his chest and thumping himself. "Never better! It takes more than that to take Owain Dark, king of demons, down!" When Severa doesn't respond, he deflates. "I'll be okay. My house is five minutes away."

"Okay." She wants to walk him home, but her mom would flip her bed if she went to Severa's room and found out that she was missing. "Bye, Owain."

She pushes off of her bike and starts peddling down the street leading to her house. It's only at the end of the block that she glances back to see Owain waving at her until he became a pinpoint in the distance before he disappears. She makes it to her home, leaning her bike against the back of the house before scaling the tree that sits close to her bedroom window. A branch from the tree is almost at the same level as her window sill, and Severa slowly walks across its length until she reaches the end just before her open window. She slips through and jumps into her big bed as she hears her mother's footsteps coming up the stairs.

Severa feigns sleep as her mother opens the door, crossing her room and laying a warm hand on her head. "Severa, wake up. We're going on a trip to Valm with Daddy today to visit his friend."

She groans. She's forgotten about that. Cordelia gets her up and dressed, frowning when she can't find Severa's jacket. When they reach the bottom of the stairs that lead to the door, Libra picks her up and carries her out in his arms as they make their way to the car and out of Ylissetol.

When Severa returns from Valm, she learns that Owain never made it home.


End file.
